Ask the Experts

Herb-growing tips, how to attract waxwings and more from our pros.

Cedar waxwings are common in my area, and I have trees they like, but they don’t visit my backyard. Why? Heather Dawson CHINCOTEAGUE ISLAND, VIRGINIA

Kenn and Kimberly: Cedar waxwings can be tantalizing. For most of the year they wander in flocks, seeking trees with good crops of small fruits or berries. During fall, winter and spring, a flock may suddenly arrive in a rush, chowing down on fruits for a short while, and then leave just as abruptly. In the summer nesting season, single waxwings or pairs are quiet and easy to overlook. The best thing to do is to plant more trees and shrubs that bear fruits at different seasons—native crabapples, dogwoods, mountain ash, eastern red cedars and others—and have faith that waxwings will show up eventually.