Native Plants
Q. Who is Mr. Smarty Plants?
A: There are those who suspect Wildflower Center volunteers are the culpable and capable culprits. Yet, others think staff members play some, albeit small, role. You can torture us with your plant questions, but we will never reveal the Green Guru's secret identity.
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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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| Yellowing leaves on non-native Betula pendula July 03, 2008 I live in Puyallup, Washington. I purchased and planted a weeping birch on June 21, 2008. For the first few days all seemed well and the tree seemed to be settling in to its new home. Less than e... View Mr. Smarty Plants' Answer | ||
| Transplanting native bluebells in Texas July 02, 2008 Hello Smarty, Italy TX here again! Your advice on crape myrtles has inspired me to try harder, but now I have a question about a TRUE native wildflower,the Texas Bluebell, growing in my pasture. I ca... View Mr. Smarty Plants' Answer | ||
| Decline of non-native Star Jasmine in California June 30, 2008 We just had 2 trachelospermum jasminoides planted in a redwood planter box about a month ago. We can't figure out if we are watering too much or too little but some leaves are turning yellow and the... View Mr. Smarty Plants' Answer | ||
| Decline of non-native weeping willow June 30, 2008 I live in Breckenridge, Texas and last year I planted a Weeping Willow tree on my property. It grew fine and seemed to be very healthy until this month. All of a sudden it has steadily lost all its ... View Mr. Smarty Plants' Answer | ||
| Buffaloberry from Grandma June 25, 2008 I have a "BUFFALO BERRY" that my Grandma brought back from South Dakota.It is approx.8yrs.old.All was well until this spring.It was budding out when we had a very hard freeze and got 3" of snow.Now... View Mr. Smarty Plants' Answer | ||
| Decline of indoor lemon cypress June 25, 2008 I received a lemon cypress as a gift. I have kept it indoors in bright light and tried to keep it moist. When I received the plant the foliage was soft and now it has become brittle and dry even tho... View Mr. Smarty Plants' Answer | ||
| Can Gaura coccinea be transplanted June 14, 2008 Hello, I had Gaura coccinea growing on my property when I lived in Albuquerque. I have been looking for it for years to plant in my xeric aroma garden. Taking a walk yesterday I found some in a ditch ... View Mr. Smarty Plants' Answer | ||
| Promote blooms on non-native plants June 11, 2008 I am trying to promote blooms on my several types of flowering scrubs and ornamentals, but not having much luck. I have used Miracid SuperBloom occasionally but not sure I am using enough, yet I may ... View Mr. Smarty Plants' Answer | ||
| Trimming back Agave havardiana June 05, 2008 Hi.. thanks for all the great information on Agaves. We have a number of Agave Havardiana (blue) that love where we planted them. Several have gotten HUGE. So much so that they are starting to ge... View Mr. Smarty Plants' Answer |  | |
| Propagation of Ashe junipers June 04, 2008 I am trying to re-build what man has destroyed in the Kingsland/Marble Falls area on a property we own out there. I would LOVE to plant a couple ashe junipers for several reasons, a couple being: 1. ... View Mr. Smarty Plants' Answer | ||
| Turks cap not blooming in Austin June 03, 2008 Why is my Turks Cap not blooming? It gets about an hour of sun in the morning, then shade for the rest of the day. It gets watered with the sprinkler system that waters our lawn. View Mr. Smarty Plants' Answer | ||
| Transplant shock in Liatris spicata May 25, 2008 I bought a liatris spicata start a month ago, and transplanted it into my front yard (full sun, clay soil, moist due to all the rain recently). The plant immediately wilted so I transplanted it in ... View Mr. Smarty Plants' Answer | ||
| Transplant shock of non-native Bougainvillea May 22, 2008 Well I bought two Bougainvilleas, the first one I transplanted is doing great, the second one not so good when I was taking it out of the original pot the root ball stayed in the pot but the plant wit... View Mr. Smarty Plants' Answer | ||
| Native wildflower garden for Pennsylvania May 21, 2008 Hello, I am interested in making a garden, and I would like to use only or mostly native wildflowers in it. Do you have any good suggestions for wildflowers that I can transplant from places where the... View Mr. Smarty Plants' Answer | ||
| Transplant shock for non-native Plumbago auriculata May 19, 2008 I planted some full plumbago plants that were in containers, in a partially shaded area, they had beautiful flowers when I purchased them, but have since lost them all and the plant is looking very wi... View Mr. Smarty Plants' Answer | ||
| Hummingbird plants and Indian Hawthorn May 13, 2008 I live in The Woodlands in a new section of homes. I planted some hummingbird plants in full sun and they did ok last year for 4 months, then lost all their leaves and died when the winter came. At ... View Mr. Smarty Plants' Answer | ||
| Brown, dry leaves on weeping willow tree May 01, 2008 We live in central TX and have just planted a weeping willow tree. Our back yard has a retention pond and ravine that parallels our property and we were told that the weeping willow will do perfectly ... View Mr. Smarty Plants' Answer | ||
| Failure of older branches on Bauhinia lunarioides to thrive April 27, 2008 We planted a sapling of the Anacacho Orchid Tree (Bauhinia lunarioides) winter (Jan, Feb?) and now it has leaves and blooms - but only off of new branches near its trunk, as the old branches haven't ... View Mr. Smarty Plants' Answer | ||
| Growing Sophora gypsophila from seed April 23, 2008 Sophora gypsophila B.L. Turner & Powell Do you have any information on growing this small tree from seed? I have a few seeds and would like to try. What conditions break seed dormancy? I have grown ... View Mr. Smarty Plants' Answer | ||
| Care in planting native Shumard oaks April 16, 2008 I am going to plant 3 shumard red oaks on the west side of my property. The land is basically rocky. What should I put in the holes to help the tree grow? View Mr. Smarty Plants' Answer | ||
| Native plants for sandy soil and not much water April 14, 2008 I am planning a new garden at home and would like to grow native plants that can handle sandy soil and don't need much water. I do not water my gardens.I would prefer plants that can have more than o... View Mr. Smarty Plants' Answer | ||
| Failure of Bald Cypress to fully leaf out April 14, 2008 My family just moved to a house in Burnet County, about 7 miles south of Bertram, close to the Balcones Canyonlands NWR, with very rocky limestone soil. We bought several trees last fall, including a ... View Mr. Smarty Plants' Answer | ||
| Removal of leaves before transplanting April 05, 2008 Before transplanting a plant, is it a good idea to remove leaves? View Mr. Smarty Plants' Answer | ||
| Viability of Texas Mountain Laurel in Louisiana March 19, 2008 I just returned from a visit to Austin and I saw the Texas Mountain Laurel everywhere. I live in the Baton Rouge, LA area and would like to know if performing some soil amendments would allow me to gr... View Mr. Smarty Plants' Answer | ||
| Viability of Texas Mountain Laurel in Florida March 12, 2008 Dear Mr. Smarty Plants While visiting Pinnacle Peak in Scottsdale we saw a beautiful Texas Mountain Laurel tree. What are the chances of this surviving in the Ft. Myers, Florida area. Either in t... View Mr. Smarty Plants' Answer | ||
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