Q: All of my rhododendrons are now blooming (letter written on Nov. 1). Will they bloom again in the spring? What has happened that made them bloom at this time of year?

A: Look at the flowering process that woody landscape plants must go through to have spring blooms: First, new stem shoots emerge from the prior season's branches in late spring or early summer. That new growth becomes mature during midsummer.

In late summer, flower buds form on mature wood. Those buds must go through a dormant period during which normal cold temperatures keep them at rest. Late-winter or springtime warmth stimulates those dormant flower buds to open. Flowering starts the seed formation process. Hot temperatures or abnormally wet weather, followed by early fall moisture, cause compression of the flowering process, usually with shortening or elimination of the flower bud resting part.

Thus, fall flowering of spring bloomers can be called a quirk of nature. Usually, not all of a spring flowering woody plant's flower buds will forgo their dormant time, so your rhododendrons might have some flower buds left for their normal spring beauty.

Q: Is there a way you can start seedlings from the berries of a dogwood?

A: Yes. Sowing those seeds, which you called berries, works. However, flowering dogwood seeds within those red coverings have both a hard seed covering that must soften and a natural dormancy that must be overcome slowly before germination takes place.

Begin this seed-propagation work by collecting newly red-ripe flowering dogwood berries soon after they begin to show red in early to midfall. Older berries in mid- to late fall might still work.

Immediately following collection, sow those berries about 3/8 -inch deep where they will have many weeks of cool soil in an outdoor garden spot with chicken wire protection to prevent animals from digging them up.

Or copy nature but work indoors to treat those seeds in a process called stratification to gradually soften the seed coats and break seed dormancy before planting them in small pots.

Then place newly ripened seeds in a small, open container; mix them with a tiny amount of milled sphagnum peat moss straight from the bag to prevent rapid seed drying. Place this in a refrigerator for four months before seed sowing.

Q: I purchased an orange tree through a magazine offer 25 years ago, but it has never produced even one orange. Why? The tree is very healthy.

A: The culprit has been the lack of pollination. The tree never produced flowers or transferred enough pollen from fertile male parts to fertile female receptors. It is my understanding that many citruses propagated from seed can produce excellent roots but are unable to make complete flowers. Thus, there's nothing you can easily do for your orange tree to get fruit.

If you do want oranges from this 25-year-old tree, find a friend who is good at grafting and knows what time of year orange grafts are successful. Send him off to Florida on a mission to bring back orange-grafting parts.

Q: We have a 5-year-old, vigorous Southern magnolia that is getting wider than it is tall. I'm afraid that this tree is setting itself up for serious damage if we get a wet winter storm. When should it be shaped and trimmed?

A: Prune it. But go by the one-third rule that sets the limit of leaf production parts that can be removed from one growing season to the next. In order to reduce the potential for snow or ice breakage, your priorities this autumn should be to remove all side branches that grow out of the central trunk in a "V" shaped intersection and to thin out branches that crowd or rub against one another. A wider, lower portion with somewhat less width above is a natural shape of a Southern magnolia and should be maintained.

Q: How late in the fall can I make my fall fertilizer application for my fescue lawn?

A: Nutrients should be applied while the grass is still actively growing in order for fertilizer to be taken and used rather than leached downward and thus wasted. Cool season grasses like your fescue benefit greatly from fertilizer applied in late November if the grass color is still a vibrant green then, which usually signals activity. However, if your fescue color has become a pale green, the plants are indicating dormancy and won't be able to use most of the fertilizer applied.

John Arbogast is a landscape consultant. Send short questions about your lawn, garden, plants or insects to Dear John, 5102 Greenfield St .S.W., Roanoke, VA 24018 or send an e-mail to askjohn@cox.net. Selected answers will be given in this column.