Native Plants
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Smarty Plants Question Topics
Ask Mr. Smarty Plants is a free service provided by the staff and volunteers at the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center.
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| Shade Tolerant Groundcover for Texas July 13, 2016 I live in Atascosa county in Pleasanton Texas, I have an abundance of Live Oak and Ash trees shading my property and need a groundcover for my backyard which is nothing but sand and where I have dogs ... View Mr. Smarty Plants' Answer |  | |
| Green Ash Tree in California Dropping Seeds July 06, 2016 We have two large green ash trees in our front yard. 2 yrs ago, they began to lose seeds year round. When they're green and when they turn brown. I believe they may have termites or some type of in... View Mr. Smarty Plants' Answer | ||
| Red bugs have appeared on my Texas mountain laurel April 10, 2016 What should I do about the red bugs on my mountain laurel? View Mr. Smarty Plants' Answer | ||
| Lopidea on Texas Mountain Laurel March 10, 2016 How do I get rid of lopidea on mountain laurel? View Mr. Smarty Plants' Answer | ||
| Preventing Oak Galls February 22, 2016 How do you prevent live oak galls? Do you have a solution? Many of our live oaks are infested with them. View Mr. Smarty Plants' Answer |  | |
| Viburnum Leaf Beetle Damage to Native Viburnums February 02, 2016 Dear Friends, I am an officer of Protectors of Pine Oak Woods, a Staten Island, NY land conservation organization which also involves itself in forest restoration and invasive species control projects... View Mr. Smarty Plants' Answer |  | |
| Caterpillars on Milkweed in MA January 23, 2016 I have found every year a black/red caterpillars on my milkweed. They eat everything! I have never been able to find out what they are or how to get rid of them. View Mr. Smarty Plants' Answer |  | |
| Avoiding insect bites while gardening in Kansas December 03, 2015 I recently moved into Mission, Kansas(Johnson County). Every time I go do any yard work I get a couple of insect bite looking spots on body. They are somewhat painful and very itchy. One of them got i... View Mr. Smarty Plants' Answer | ||
| Honeybees swarming around galls on oak trees September 28, 2015 A large number of honeybees have descended on a live oak tree in my backyard. They appear to be feeding on the numerous galls on the tree as if they were flowers. What's going on? View Mr. Smarty Plants' Answer | ||
| Georgia Monocots for Dodder Infested Location September 02, 2015 I have a 12'x12' area where we planted carrots, and we got a surprise - dodder! Next year we planted corn - no dodder! This year we planted cosmos, and behold, we had dodder. I understand monocot... View Mr. Smarty Plants' Answer |  | |
| Webworm on Texas Mountain Laurel in Texas September 02, 2015 I thought my mountain laurel had web worms and I sprayed for them. Now the plant looks like it still has the worms even though none are present. Also, I sprayed with a fungicide because some of the ... View Mr. Smarty Plants' Answer |  | |
| Question about a beetle eating bees August 22, 2015 I have a beetle that is about index finger or pinkie fingernail size. I have a bee hive and it's eating the bees by injecting it with an inch long probe and sucking out the liquid of my bees. View Mr. Smarty Plants' Answer | ||
| Lace Bugs on Lantana August 06, 2015 All my lantana bushes are suffering from severe lace bug infestation. The lace bugs have been seen via microscope as well exoskeletons and poop. The buds are destroyed and I have no flowers for hummin... View Mr. Smarty Plants' Answer |  | |
| Pest Dug Up and Ate Hypoxis Corms August 06, 2015 After years of no problems, something recently dug up and ate all my Yellow star-grass corms. What is attracted to them and is there an organic way to prevent it? View Mr. Smarty Plants' Answer |  | |
| Pests on Fan Tex Ash July 30, 2015 We planted a Fan Tex Ash last year on our property. It's doing very well, but there are a lot of large stink bugs, yellow jackets and red wasps on it daily. We cannot seem to find any information on ... View Mr. Smarty Plants' Answer | ||
| White spotting on prickly pear cactus July 28, 2015 Hello- I have large prickly pear cacti and just noticed large white spotting on some of the leaves. I also see some black bugs and apparently they are the problem.They are about 1/4" long. How can I ... View Mr. Smarty Plants' Answer | ||
| Hydrangea with Pest and Sun Issues July 26, 2015 My hydrangea is in trouble. Something is eating holes in the leaves which then turn brown on the edges (the holes and the tips of the leaves are also burned). It looks like someone burned them with ... View Mr. Smarty Plants' Answer |  | |
| Identity of tiny green spiders found in Sego lilies July 14, 2015 Hi - I'm wondering if you can identify for me the name of the tiny green spiders that can be found inside Sego Lilies (Calochortus nuttallii). I have a photo if that would be helpful. Thanks!! Ca... View Mr. Smarty Plants' Answer | ||
| Keeping bugs out of a Texas home June 29, 2015 I'm slowly growing my gardens into natural habitats for birds, bees, butterflies and other little critters but would like to keep them outside of my house. Being in central Texas it is difficult to ... View Mr. Smarty Plants' Answer | ||
| Discouraging Poison Ivy June 27, 2015 Is there a fern that discourages poison ivy from growing? View Mr. Smarty Plants' Answer |  | |
| Turk's Cap and Pavonia insect problems June 27, 2015 My Turk's cap and Pavonia lasiopetala (rock rose) plants both have quite a few leaves that are skeletonized in appearance. I do not see any insects on the underside of the leaves. What could be cau... View Mr. Smarty Plants' Answer |  | |
| Will cochineal insects washed from cactus plants harm adjacent Oleander? June 11, 2015 Will mealybugs (cochineal insects) power washed off prickly pear cactus harm adjacent oleander plants if the white fluff gets on the oleander? My neighbor asked me to power wash my prickly pears and t... View Mr. Smarty Plants' Answer | ||
| Falling Balls from an Oak in Kingsland TX May 25, 2015 I have a large Live Oak in the back yard, with St. Augustine grass under it. It is April 3, 2015. The leaves have fallen and now little tiny round balls are falling. I am hearing a popping noise und... View Mr. Smarty Plants' Answer |  | |
| ID of insects attacking a Mexican Plum in Austin, TX May 11, 2015 I live in south austin and have a young 6' tall mexican plum. For the third year in a row it is getting eaten by small green 'leaf-rolling' worms. The destruction the past 2 years was so bad there ... View Mr. Smarty Plants' Answer | ||
| Carolina buckthorn and Neem Oil Spray Damage April 27, 2015 It's April, I have a Carolina buckthorn that seemed to be doing well, about 8 feet tall, about 2 years old in part shade. It was putting out new leaves about a month ago and seemed to have infestati... View Mr. Smarty Plants' Answer |  | |
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