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Dear Helen: The Hula berries I planted last year have formed fruit. They are white with red seeds. How do I know when they are ready to pick? R.M.

As we move outside for another season of sunshine and outdoor entertainment, there is no need to forgo the style and comfort that we enjoy in our living rooms and family rooms.

Dear Tony: We recently sold our condo in Vancouver for $2.8 million and ran into a problem with our strata corporation and strata manager.

Dear Helen: I’ve been admiring colourful heucheras in my local garden centres, and wonder how easy they are to grow. L.E. Heucheras (and heucherellas) are among the most easy-care plants I’ve grown.

There’s been much comment this spring on the earliness and unusually prolific bloom on fruiting and ornamental trees and shrubs.

Dear Helen: Over a year ago you wrote about vanilla leaf, which I have discovered in wild areas near my home. I love the smell of the leaves as they dry and would like to have some in the garden. I don’t want to take from the wild.

Dear Reena: Can the finish on a toilet bowl deteriorate due to reddish stains that appear to flow from the top of the bowl to the top of the water? The stains are removed with cleaner but reappear quickly.

I’m wondering, on this weekend occupied with honouring mothers, whether there is a particular plant or flower that most precisely reflects the nature of motherhood or the mother in your family. Some probably would choose “mums.

Dear Helen: When I recently dug over a plot in my garden I found numerous plump, C-shaped white grubs. Some were tiny, others larger. I found one that was almost five cm (two inches) long. What are they? J.W.

Mid-April to mid-May is a magic time in home gardens.