Flowering plum fruit OK: Gardeners ask if its fruit is edible, and the answer is yes. These colorful trees originated from edible plums, when plant breeders selected for ornamental characteristics rather than fruit quality.

Wisteria won't bloom: This can be a problem if you are feeding and watering it too much. Take a shovel and push directly into the ground near the trunk to sever some roots. The wisteria will really get down to business and will produce flowers next spring.

Moving a newly planted paloverde: Since it was just planted, go ahead; you won't be severing many roots, but keep the rootball intact. Prepare the new site first, and keep the soil moist after planting. Or, wait until fall when it is more conducive to planting trees.

Weeds sneak into lawn: Those who have professional gardeners coming from another yard need to be concerned about weed seeds hitchhiking to your yard. In all sincerity, gardeners should wash their equipment off to get rid of these hitchhikers before entering your yard. Already, I've seen Bermuda grass, crabgrass and spurge attempting to hitch a ride. I always wash the undercarriage of my mower, so have your gardener do the same.

Pruning desert trees: Whenever you see diseased, damaged or misdirected limbs, remove them. There is a lot of misdirected new growth and it's easy to rub off. Be careful not to remove too much growth, because you want limbs to provide shade to interior branches to prevent sunburn and borers from entering your tree. If you expose too much interior growth, paint exposed branches with a white latex paint.

Agave stabbings: Some people are sensitive or allergic to agaves when stabbed, so it may cause swelling. In any case, see your doctor and make sure the thorns are removed.

Yellow bells from seed: Sometimes it is easier to purchase plants but since you insist, here's how, said Dennis Swartzell of Horticulture Consultants: Let pods stay on plants until seeds mature. After harvesting seeds, scarify them by sanding the seed coats before planting.

Eliminating Chinaberry seeds: You can't do anything about seeds now, but next spring during blooming spray blossoms with the same spray that prevents olives. Make a couple of applications to catch late bloomers.

Water-efficient buffalo grass: It does well in the Las Vegas Valley, but browns during winter. It makes an excellent substitute for fescue lawns. It seldom requires mowing. In fact, it looks better not mown. Advertisements say it doesn't need irrigation, but that's in places where it rains. The Springs Preserve waters it occasionally.

PLANT GIVEAWAY

Between 10 a.m. and noon Friday the Springs Preserve at 333 S. Valley View Blvd. will give away three kinds of Mojave plants. They went fast at the plant sale, so get there early to get yours. They are:

* Desert marigold, a native of Southern Nevada that is always blooming yellow, making a welcome addition to any landscape. It blends in with cactuses, rock gardens and wildflowers or plant it from seed in masses. Use its spent flowers in dry arrangements

* Showy four o'clock also hails from our desert with magenta flowers crowning it during spring and fall. Use this colorful perennial as a ground cover or a showy blaze of color with cactuses and other plants. Its flowers show off late in the afternoon and into the night.

* Climbing snapdragon grows all across the Southwest. Its purple/velvet flowers brighten any landscape in the spring and fall. Use it as a climber on trellises or scaffoldings or as a delicate ground cover. It does die during winter but bounces back in spring.

Linn Mills writes a garden column each Sunday. You can reach him at linn.mills@springspreserve.org or call him at 822-7754.