You asked

Bedeviled gardeners are writing in and they seem to be all twisted up about matters horticultural. Spring is closing in and anxiety is blooming about what to plant and when to plant.

From the Haliburton hinterlands Jem Woodcroft emails in, "I'm not much of a gardener. What can I plant in the crevices of a stone wall?"

I would say, since Jem "isn't much of a gardener", she should take baby steps with cast iron plants such as sedum, and hens and chicks. Not necessarily the old fashioned hens and chicks (sempervivums is the proper name) which are about as thrilling as Brussels sprouts, but the new bewitching ones with purple leaves, or hairy leaves that look like they are hosting an exotic insect convention. These two perennials like sun, grow fine in thin soil and only need the occasional splash of water to keep on spreading. They'll cling to the crevices in the wall, like zebra mussels to a sailboat hull. Once Jem gets beyond gardening grade #1, she can try heavenly plants in her rock walls like saxifraga. I will never forget the beauty of a saxifraga called 'Tumbling Waters'. It spilled over the gorgeous stone walls in a country garden in Erin, burbling white flowers frothing over granite boulders, sublime. Saxifraga, though not necessarily hard to grow, seems to be a collectors plant. But I have had a teensy one growing easily in a knock-off trough made of Styrofoam no less. The saxifraga, the sedums and hens and chicks survive in a shallow bed of gravel, left out all winter. So imagine their performance in a stone wall.

The Ontario Rock Garden Society provides more information on these and much more (www.onrockgarden.com), as does Wrightman Alpines (www.wrightmanalpines.com; 519-247-3751). In his nursery in Kerwood, Ontario near London, Harvey Wrightman grows breathtaking alpines, fragile looking beauties that can be held in the palm of your hand. Wrightman Alpines Open House May 1st is very worth a pilgrimage.

From the far reaches of North York, Y. Buonvivere wants to know when to plant her four-o-clock seeds.

Four-o-clocks are charming annuals and are dead easy to grow. The easiest way is to soak the seeds overnight and seed directly in the garden after danger of frost. In full sun they will produce sweetly scented, trumpet shaped flowers which open in the evening (after four-o-clock), and bloom until noonish the next day. In warmer climates they can be invasive.

And Carole Chapman has fallen under the spell of the Endless Summer hydrangea, and wonders if she can overwinter them indoors, since she lives in an apartment.

It might be worth a try, or it might just be worth buying new ones for the balcony each year. At the end of the summer trade the hydrangeas for a bushel full of Brandywine tomatoes. That's fair and square. But if Carole wants to try overwintering the hydrangeas, here's how. In the fall, when the leaves have dropped but before the container has frozen, move the pot to a cold (-30-40F), dark place indoors - like an unheated garage. Water sparingly, then in January move the hydrangea to a 50F room and place in indirect light. After two weeks or so, move to a 60F room in direct sun and water normally. After those contortions, you should be rewarded with new leaves and the plant will be on its way to blooming beautifully.

Spring makes for a pleasant frenzy in the garden. Plant, prune and pamper. But take a break once in a while. On a spin through the countryside this week I saw a happy sign at a farm, "7 weeks until strawberries." Now that says summertime.