internet to find out more and, as usual when foxed, I phoned Guy Barter at the RHS. As usual, he had the answer. Dodder emerges in spring from overwintering seeds and starts to entwine itself around the nearest plant. It has no chlorophyll and can't photosynthesise as green plants do, so quickly attaches itself to its hosts and feeds off them, growing an orange web over them as it goes. Related Articles If dodder sets seed it can indeed "contaminate" the ground and take over -- apparently in the New Forest it is a not uncommon sight. Dodder is resistant to weed killers but generally, Guy said, it is not considered to be a particularly prevalent problem in gardens. So where did Norman's dodder come from? Our guess is that the seed of the asters was somehow contaminated with dodder seed. Looking through his records, Guy discovered that he'd had other enquiries with relation to failing aster seed. I am naming no names here (since it is all a bit circumstantial), but I thought this might be of interest to other readers and provide a possible explanation as to why these lovely annual asters may have failed to impress this year. Protection for tiddlers After I admired my friend's Verbena bonariensis, she pulled up about a dozen seedlings for me. I put them in a large pot and they are looking very healthy and have grown to about a foot. Should I plant them in the border now or leave