Vern Nelson: Here's what you need to know before buying fruit trees for your Northwest garden

Here are some rules to buying fruit trees; choose fruit varieties that are easy to maintain; consider naturally small dwarf rootstock and pick bare-root trees for easy to examine root-systems.

MINTER: Pruning fruit trees is fun and easy

You really don’t have to be an expert to prune fruit trees. All it takes is a little common sense and a few helpful hints.

Martha Stewart: Potted citrus trees capture the sun for gloomy winter months

Your orange, lemon or lime tree can grow in a container, thriving indoors during cold-weather months before basking outside in spring and summer.

Ciscoe Morris: Dwarf hinoki cypress adds elegant touch

Ciscoe Morris, Seattle Times garden writer, talks about the selection of hinoki cypress that are available at local nurseries; self-pollinating cherry-tree varieties that are available on dwarfing Gisela rootstock; and how a visit to Washington Park Arboretum Winter Garden in winter offers an explosion of color and fragrance.

Weekend Plantings: Society Garlic

Numerous plants, especially culinary herbs and fruit trees, are considered both ornamental and edible. Surprisingly, the culinary value of society garlic, a grassy-leaved, evergreen perennial from South Africa, generally goes unrecognized, even though the young leaves of this 12-inch-tall plant provide the same flavor as garlic chives.