Native Plants
Q. Who is Mr. Smarty Plants?
A: There are those who suspect Wildflower Center volunteers Nan Hampton, Jimmy Mills and Barbara Medford to be the culpable and capable parties. Yet, others think staff members Damon Waitt, Joe Marcus and Philip Hawkins might 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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Ask Mr. Smarty Plants is a free service provided by the staff and volunteers at the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center.
Questions From Near You
Brick, NJ
Yellowing leaves on non-native weeping birch in Brick NJ
I have a young weeping birch-planted in spring-we water regularly, it gets good sun-and rain has been perfect--the leaves get yellow--and now they are a lot! Whats the matter? I love my little tree.I ...
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Brick, NJ
Plant ID from Brick, New Jersey
I live in Brick, New Jersey. I planted some wildflower seed from an assorted packet. There is a very tall, thick center stem with orange flowers. I'd like to send photo but don't know how.
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Point Pleasant, NJ
Promoting growth on non-native dipladinias (mandevillia) from Point Pleasant NJ
My Dipladinias were almost dead when I bought them last year, but after a little TLC, they blossomed like CRAZY in pots outside. They stopped blooming in November (I brought them into the house in Se...
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Howell, NJ
Center of Yucca filamentosa looking rotten in Howell, NJ
I live in central NJ. I planted some Adam's Needle Yucca in my garden around 5 years ago. Since then, they kept growing and ended up developing three trunks off of the main trunk. I noticed recentl...
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Toms River, NJ
Native Texas Plants for SC
I just visited your beautiful facility for the first time and loved it! I'm planning to move to Charleston, SC and would love to replicate some of the wildflower and walkway areas I saw. Would the fo...
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Toms River, NJ
Propagate a trumpet vine from a cutting in Toms River NJ
Can you propagate a trumpet vine from a cutting?
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Hamilton, NJ
Care for non-native red orchid
In a nutshell, I was away for about a week and before leaving I watered my red orchid (as instructions said you were only supposed to water it once a week and place in a spot with sunlight but not dir...
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Avon by the Sea, NJ
Tree for New Jersey shore
I'm looking for a small tree (max. 15 ft. with small spread) that will tolerate salt spray, wind, and full sun at the NJ shore. There is no protection in this location.
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Fairfield, NJ
Plants for floodplain in Fairfield, New Jersey
I have an easy question for you... I hope... We just moved into the floodplains of NJ in Fairfield and are interested in some plants. We would like to know what plants are best suited to grow in flood...
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Freehold, NJ
Poison ivy? vine in NJ
I have a vine growing among some vegetation in my backyard. It has a leaf with 3 "points" with ridges along its edges. The smaller leaves are reddish which is why I thought poison ivy but definite...
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Freehold, NJ
Identity of vine growing in New Jersey
Hello!
I am hoping you may be able to help me out in identifying a vine plant that has started to grow from under my deck, through the lattice and up the outside of my deck. I bought the house 2 y...
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Freehold, NJ
Shade Shrubs for a NJ Slope
I live in central NJ and have a 15' shaded slope behind my home with a creek on the bottom. The slope erodes a little every year and I want to plant native plants on the slope to stop the erosion. Wha...
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Elberon, NJ
Solarization and hand-pulling to remove invasive weeds
We are planting a field of native grasses, and prepared the landscape by solarization last July. However it now seems that the weeds returned with great vigor. Is there any other method to get rid of ...
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Eatontown, NJ
Pruning Saucer Magnolia in Eatontown, NJ.
Adult Saucer Magnolia (tulip tree). Branches were getting heavy to where they were ready to break. I pruned them back leaving 1 to 3 inch diameter cuts on many branches. Should I put something on th...
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Little Silver, NJ
Native evergreen tree for horse pasture in New Jersey
I just pulled out a laurel that was hiding a stand pipe in our horse paddock. We had trouble this winter with the horses eating it when there was little grass to graze on. Can you suggest an evergre...
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Holmdel, NJ
Perennial ground cover for hillside in Holmdel NJ
I live in NJ. I would like to use a perennial ground cover for my landscaping bed on a hill with full sun and deer resistant. It's a good size landscaping bed that is facing east (southeast).
What...
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Holmdel, NJ
Privacy Trees for New Jersey
My neighbor elevated a row of white pine between our houses at least 20 feet high leaving me with NO privacy and a row of ugly lollipops. What trees can I plant that will be fast growing and deer resi...
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marlboro, NJ
Mystery vine in Marlboro NJ
I have a patch in my backyard where we planted pumpkins last year but it does not look like pumpkin vines to me. The vine is smooth and the leaves are long and oval that come to a point. There are s...
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Englishtown, NJ
Plant identification
I am looking for the name of the plant that looks like the spider plant but can survive the cold weather of the northeast. It looks just like the indoor spider plant but it does not produce offshoots....
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Morganville, NJ
A privacy hedge for NJ
My backyard faces a highway in New Jersey. 18 years ago White Pines were planted for privacy, but they have since grown and now there is no privacy at all as the tree trucks are rather bare. Is ther...
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Rumson, NJ
Natural Privacy Planting for New Jersey
I have a question about privacy plantings in New Jersey (Monmouth County). We have a wooden fence around the perimeter of backyard with some various older trees. We wanted to start anew and wanted to ...
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