Q - I am interested in planting some of the black walnuts that come from the trees in my neighborhood. Is it necessary to remove or penetrate the husk before planting? Or are there any other recommended procedures to insure germination?  E.L.

Growing Black Walnuts is a good source of information for your project.  It suggests that husking the walnuts makes them easier to handle and sort.  If you get walnut stain on yourself, though, it will be there for a while, so wear gloves and clothes you don't care about.  One way to husk them is to soak them in a bucket of water to soften and then remove the husks  by hand.  After that,  rinse them, a few at a time,  in another bucket of water.  The ones that are most likely to germinate have fully developed kernels, making them heavier, and therefore will sink to the bottom.  Keep the good ones and discard the ones that float.  Walnuts require a cold period for germination, so put the good ones in a plastic bag and store in the refrigerator for 90-120 days at 34-41°F.  The site to which I have referred you tells how to deal with larger quantities, planting site location and preparation, and discouraging squirrels and rodents.  After the cold period, plant 2 nuts in each location 1-2" deep.  About half of them will germinate in 4-5 weeks.  More may germinate next year.  Good luck!

Q - Can you tell me the name of an interesting tree/shrub I saw in a landscape. It makes me think of an umbrella opened up! The branches all hang down around from the center. It is not very tall, maybe 5 feet.

A - Most likely the tree you saw was a grafted weeping cherry tree.   It is used a lot in landscaping plans today.  Some of the mail order catalogs have weeping cherry trees available, but they will grow to be 30 ft. tall.  The grafted one, however, stays small--not over 12 ft. tall.  There are other   possible answers to your inquiry, such as tree wisteria and some of the other newer grafted tree varieties.

Q - I would like to try starting apple trees from seed. However I have been unable to find any information. Do the seeds need a cold period before I try to start them. Any information would be very helpful. Thank you!

A - There isn't much information about starting apple trees from seed.   When I was a child I tried to grow many things from seeds--lemon trees, orange and grapefruit trees, and even apple trees.  They do sprout, and they don't need a cold period.  However, you don't know what kind of a tree you are going to get when you grow it from seed, and it is going to take several years before you will find out.  Nurseries use grafting to make their trees.

Q - I purchased a dwarf nectarine tree about 5-6 years ago. Every year it has a lot of blossoms but never produces fruit. I was lead to believe it was a self-pollinating tree. What am I doing wrong?

A -  Even with a a lot of blossoms on the tree, weather is a very important factor in producing fruit since the fruiting is limited by extreme cold and late frosts.  Fruit simply won't develop if the temperatures get too low when the trees are flowering.  Peaches and nectarines are self-pollinating, so you don't have to have another tree for pollination, but a good supply of bees is still necessary to pollinate the flowers in order for the fruit to set on.   Nectarines set fruit on last year's wood so prune lightly in the summer and fertilize.  In this area the conditions have to be almost perfect to get a crop.  I have had both peach and nectarine trees, but after a few years I decided my time and the space devoted to the trees could be put to better use.

Q - So what does happen if you prune the flowering trees in March? Do they die? The reason for my question is that we have a flowering crab apple tree with branches too low to the ground to mow under. I was thinking we would go ahead and prune the tree if it would not kill it. Otherwise, I guess we'll think of something else. ----- From J.R.

A - Pruning the flowering trees now will not kill them--it simply reduces the number of flowering branches.  In the interest of mowing the grass safely or improving the looks of the tree, prune the branches now -- using good pruning techniques, of course.

Q - I work at the Indiana Limestone Co. in Oolitic, IN.  Last spring  those of us in the office noticed a strange flowering tree.  It is a large tree with very fragrant purple blooms. One of the quarry supervisors informed us that they are all over the quarry areas and they were brought to the area many years ago when the Italians immigrated.  I've noticed a few others in Oolitic and they appear to bear some type of fruit. Do you have any idea what type of a tree this is?

A - After obtaining a leaf and a fruit cluster from the tree in question, we have determined that it is from the "Bignoniaceae" family which is comprised of some 700 species including trees, shrubs, herbaceous plants and many climbers. The catalpa is one of the species in this large family, and the tree in question is related to the catalpa we think.  Its leaf looks very much like the catalpa we all know, except that it has a couple of little cusps on the sides, but the fruit is not the familiar bean shape.  The description that seems to fit this tree is as follows: fragrant deep-purple flowers that appear before the leaves do; twigs that are hairy at first, later becoming smooth; fruit that is an ovid woody capsule 1 to 1.5 inches long; mature tree size is 40 feet tall and 1.5 feet in diameter. The name of this tree is a Royal Paulownia and it is native to China, but it is widely planted in the U.S.--mostly in the southeastern U.S. Although it may have been planted by the Italians who were working in the quarries at the time, it didn't come from Italy. I don't know how desirable this tree is from an environmental point of view, but catalpas generally aren't considered desirable. I suspect it has spread throughout the quarries and Oolitic from the seeds that are inside the fruit.