Q: I recently bought a weekend home with 40 acres of cut-over forest I hope to (slowly) restore. A friend suggested I plant some blight-resistant American chestnuts along with other trees. Is this a good idea?

A: Planting some American chestnuts (Castanea dentata) is a good idea. Planting them in a mixed forest is not, because blight resistant American chestnuts are still a work in progress.

Decades of research should eventually bear chestnuts, but any tree you plant now will die before reaching full size. The fungus that felled 3.5 billion of these majestic hardwoods in less than 50 years is a tough adversary, and even if all goes well it will probably be 10 years before forest-worthy trees are on the market.

In the meantime, you can play a part in helping it happen by being a citizen scientist. Organizations like the American Chestnut Foundation — (802) 447-0110 or acf.org, and the American Chestnut Cooperators Foundation, Forest Service Road 708, Newport, Va., 24128 or ppws.vt.edu/griffin/accf.html — need members who will grow and evaluate the stock that is available now.

Eventually, there could again be American chestnuts 80 to 100 feet tall from Maine to Mississippi to Michigan, in part thanks to private growers who cared for doomed trees now.

Yours might grow 20 to 30 feet tall and bear nuts for several years before perishing.

Fussy bluebonnets

Q. I have been trying to grow Texas bluebonnets with limited success. I got one plant to survive three years but with sparse flowers and seed production. Is it possible to get a good stand of these beautiful wildflowers this far north?

A. Texas bluebonnets are one of the most lovely native lupines. Five or more species of lupines share the common name, but only Lupinus texensis is readily available in seed racks.

Like most lupines, bluebonnets grow in cool weather. In cooler climates, they should be planted in late September or early October. Throughout autumn and early winter, the plants will grow a rosette of leaves that hugs the soil surface. It is conceivable that if left in place and adequately pollinated, your Texas bluebonnet might have set some seed. But the seed might not have fully matured and therefore won’t be viable. Incidentally, it is unusual for Texas bluebonnets to live longer than a single year. Like foxgloves, snapdragons and other winter annuals, it is conceivable that it may persist, particularly if not allowed to set seed.

The other possibility is that you may have a different species. Some of the species of bluebonnet native to Texas are actually short-lived perennials.

Dogged cattails

Q. Cattails are taking over my pond. Is there a safe, chemical way to kill these things?

A. Herbicides are an option but only those labeled for control of weeds in wetlands, such as Rodeo. Applied now, late in the growing season, herbicides are more effective than if sprayed earlier in the season or when the plants have begun to prepare for winter dormancy.

Even if you get rid of the cattails, be prepared for their return. The seeds, with their fluffy tails, are blown great distances on the wind and are certain to germinate wherever there is continuously saturated soil or shallow water. Some pond owners modify their ponds by dredging the margins to make them deeper at the water’s edge. Cattails won’t establish in water more than 18 to 24 inches deep. Cattails also will not grow well in shade, so you could plant trees at the pond’s edge to limit their spread.

Compiled from New York Times and Washington Post reports.