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Could you suggest some houseplants that are small enough to set and grow on a windowsill?

There are many, many plants small enough to grow on a windowsill. Here are a few suggestions. Cacti and succulents not only grow very slowly, but are very compact and easy to grow. They are also one of the most interesting-looking group of plants. In the flowering plant category, you could try the ever popular African violet or maybe something a little different such as a kalanchoe or miniature cyclamen. If you like trailing plants, try English ivy. Ivy grows quickly, but is easy to prune and keep at a manageable size.

A vining weed climbed all through a couple tall roses bushes of mine before I was aware of it. It will be nearly impossible to untangle the weed from the rose canes and if I try, it will break off many stems. Is it OK to just trace the vines to their roots and pull out the roots, while leaving the vines to die on the rose canes? Will that cause any harm to the roses?

You are correct in cutting the vine at the root system. Just leave the vine on your rose bush until it has dried. Then through the normal pruning of your roses, most of the dead vine will come out. The speed at which the vine grew hints at it being an annual, which would have died out over the winter.

Every so often when I dig up perennials to move or divide them, I notice that some of the finely shredded pine bark that I have used to amend the soil has a white, powdery coating on it. What is it? Is it a problem?

The white powdery coating that you describe is just nature taking its course. The shredded pine bark that you use is just decomposing, and the white is a natural fungus helping the process. This will not cause any problems for you in your garden. In fact, since you have mentioned that you are adding organic matter to your soil and periodically dividing your perennials, that seems to indicate that you have a healthy growing garden.

Last fall (September and October), I noticed healthy specimens of pear, apple and crabapple blooming. The only times I have seen such plants blooming outside of their normal seasonal patterns are when they are acutely distressed. What would have caused such a strange blooming cycle on otherwise healthy plants?

While most trees only bloom during their normal seasonal time, healthy mature trees do have the ability to set a flower bud early, known as the king flower bud. When the king flower bud has a nice, sunny fall day it will bloom. The secondary flower buds will bloom only after they have gone through their normal winter rest period.

I planted sweet potato vines in containers last summer (both the chartreuse and dark purple ones). When I took out the plants for the winter, they had grown banana-sized tubers. Could I have over-wintered these and planted them in the spring? If so, how would I do it.

Believe it or not the sweet potato vine tubers are actually edible. The taste is a cross between a regular potato and sweet potato! This beautiful vine has grown quickly in popularity for its fast growing habit and lush foliage. Yes, you can store the tubers for next spring’s planting. In the fall simply remove all foliage from the tuber, wash off any soil and let the tuber dry thoroughly for about 24 hours. After it dries, store the tuber in dry peat moss and keep in a dark area that maintains a steady temperature between 50 and 60 degrees. Next spring, remove the tuber from the peat and cut it into smaller pieces or plant whole in fresh potting soil and start watering. Place in a sunny area and in no time at all you will have lush green or purple growth!

I was preparing a bed for planting last fall and while I was turning over the soil, I kept pulling up jet black roots about 1/4 inch in diameter. They had sinewy, white centers and traveled all over the 15 by 30 foot area I was working. What are these roots? I remember some ferns popping up in this area earlier in the year.

I suspect you may be encountering the bracken fern, common throughout Michigan and the Great Lakes region. It reproduces by spores produced on the underside of the leaves and spreads by way of a thick, black and scaly rootstock that may grow to a length of 20 feet or more. Shoots can pop up almost anywhere along this rootstock. A vigorous root system, such as the one produced by this fern, can be quite invasive and can quickly spread out of control making a pest of itself. However, the roots will not survive if they are not nourished by the top growth. Continue to pull out the roots as you work the bed. Eliminate any top growth as it appears and the root system will eventually die off. Be persistent in your efforts and you will gain the upper hand.

When I fertilize certain annuals, why is there more foliage growth than flowers? I believe cosmos are one of them.

It could be what you are fertilizing with. Complete fertilizers contain three primary nutrients, listed as three numbers on the fertilizer package, such as 12-12-6. They represent the percent of nitrogen, phosphorus and potash contained in that product. These three numbers appear on all fertilizing products and are always listed in the aforementioned order. A properly balanced fertilizer, in combination with other critical growing factors such as water and sunlight, can promote growth and flowering as well as enhance vigor, general hardiness and disease resistanc

If one of these critical elements is lacking or is extremely out of balance with the other nutrients, the fertilized plant may not perform as expected. For example, if you used a lawn fertilizer with an analysis of 34-4-4 on your cosmos, the overbalance of nitrogen is likely to produce a very bushy, green plant with few flowers. A better combination of nutrients would be an evenly balanced fertilizer such as a 12-12-12 or a 20-20-20. Once the plant is well established, a fertilizer higher in phosphorus (the middle number) will generally enhance and improve the plant’s ability to produce abundant flowers. Consider using a 5-10-5 granular fertilizer or giving the plants a “punch” of water soluble fertilizer (fertilizers intended to be mixed with water and used as a watering solution) such as 10-54-10.

Can tulips be divided? If so, when and how do I do it?

The sad truth is, tulips are not a truly dependable perennial in Michigan. Our springs are often too brief, starting late and becoming summer almost overnight. If summer comes on quickly, the foliage may die down before it has time to replenish the spent food reserves. The result is a smaller bulb (than the one you originally planted) that survives to the following spring. Tulip beds in Michigan produce their best show in the spring following fall planting. Each successive year produces fewer and smaller flowers. Tulip division becomes a moot point.

Another alternative is to plant early-blooming tulips so the foliage can remain longer, thus re-energizing the bulb sufficiently. Or, you can simply treat tulips as an annual, replacing the beds with top-size bulbs the following fall. Keep in mind that other spring-flowering bulbs are more dependable perennials for our area. Daffodils (Narcissus) will return year after year, and multiply in the process.

When is it safe to put terracotta pots back outside?

It is safe to put clay pots back outside when temperatures consistently stay above freezing.