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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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Please forgive us, but Mr. Smarty Plants has been overwhelmed by a flood of mail and must take a break for awhile to catch up. We hope to be accepting new questions again soon. Thank you!

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Questions From Near You

Great Falls, VA
Deer--resistant plants for Great Falls, VA
We have just moved to a house with a rural garden enjoyed by us and the deer. Can you recommend any deer resistant plants for ths location ? ( We have full sun and shade - zip code 22066. Thanks,
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Great Falls, VA
Vine for Chain Link Fence in Virginia
I am from Great Falls, Virginia. I would like to know what the best vine is to grow on aluminum fences to cover them up quickly but also doesn't damage expensive fences in a long term?
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Reston, VA
Native plants for dry shade in Virginia
I live in Reston, Virginia and have dry shade. What are the best plants to use for my garden. Xeriscaping and native plants are important considerations.
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Reston, VA
Identification of Beetleweed or Galax as
My mother will soon celebrate her 100th birthday. For her 1st birthday her mother decorated her highchair with "smilox". I am trying to find out what plant this is. I have found "smilax" but it is...
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Reston, VA
Chipmunk in the garden.
Hi Mr. Smarty Plants, I have a rogue chipmunk this year (never had one before doing this) who is eating roots and digging holes in all my plant containers. I have tried Plant Skyd (excellent deer r...
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Vienna, VA
Hedge shrubs that attract butterflies & birds in Virginia
Hi - I need recommendations for north VA hedge shrubs that attract butterflies and birds. Thanks
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Vienna, VA
Removing nut grass and wild strawberry in Vienna VA
Mr. Smarty Pants, How do I get rid of wild strawberry plants and nut grass in my large garden bed? I have rosemary and thyme already there and don't want to use a harmful pesticide (kids and pets...
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McLean, VA
Small Tree or Shrub for Northern Virginia
I live in Northern Virginia in the metro D.C. area and we just had a large pine tree topple over in the front of our house. We would like to replace it with a native evergreen that wouldn't grow up a...
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Mclean, VA
Understory planting in Virginia
We have some 10 mature tulip and sycamore trees in our No. VA property. The previous home owners were fond of English Ivy and Japanese pachysandra. We are working hard at replacing these invasives to ...
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McLean, VA
Evergreen for privacy screen in Virginia
Last year we lost a large pine that was part of privacy screen and we replaced it with two Eastern red cedars. There is still a substantial gap that won't be filled in by the cedars and we were cons...
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North Potomac, MD
Deer resistant plants for MD
My home backs to the Muddy Branch Creek parkland,which is suffering greatly from a large deer population. Many of the plants that existed in the woods when we purchased our home (1986), such as mayap...
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Oakton, VA
Plants to put between stepping stones in Virginia
We are a public school in Northern Virginia and are looking for native plants that could be planted between heavily used stepping stones and could withstand some foot traffic (mostly in a sunny spot, ...
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Oakton, VA
Splash-proof plants from Oakton VA
Hi Mr Smarty Plants, Re: low, evergreen ground cover, Northern Virginia The bare soil around my freshly painted screen porch splashes up onto the white framing when it rains so I am looking for ...
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Rockville, MD
Maryland native plant source
Dear Mr. Smarty Plants, Great answer to the man from Severen, MD with list of Maryland natives. Did you know that some of these natives are propogated from seed collected in the wild by Chesapeake Nat...
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Rockville, MD
Cutting Back Perennials in the Fall?
We have large beds of flowering native perennials that we planted around our house as part of a landscape conservation plan (various Joe-Pyes, goldenrods, turtlehead, blazing star, brown-eyed Susans)....
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Rockville, MD
Listing of plants matched to specific pollinators
Could you refer me to a listing of plants matched to specific pollinators? I have completed the conversion of a local nature center garden to a pollinator garden with all natives. We hope to place ed...
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Rockville, MD
Eliminating black locust volunteers in Rockville MD
I am a landscape designer whose client has a very large, mature black locust in her front yard. Not surprisingly, she also has multitudes of black locust volunteers popping up all over her yard. The...
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Gaithersburg, MD
Looking for a source for Atlantic pigeonwings (Clitoria mariana)
I hope you can help me a little. I'm trying to find a way to get Clitoria mariana (Atlantic pigeonwings) in my garden, but can't find a seed source anywhere. Do you have any suggestions? Thanks...
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Fairfax, VA
Small native flowering tree for Virginia
Could you recommend a small flowering tree (8-10' mature size) to plant in front garden next to the house. Full sun. Something that doesn't have invasive roots that would damage the house. Thanks...
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Fairfax, VA
Invasives species experiment from Fairfax VA
Dear Mr. Smarty Plants, I have some friends that need an experiment on Invasive Species fast. They are in 11th grade at Robinson secondary school. Are you able to help? Its due in June and they don'...
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Fairfax, VA
Cultivars off native plants attracting pollinators from Fairfax VA
When trying to create a native garden/habitat- should you avoid using cultivars of the native plant? Nurseries around us keep trying to tell us that using a cultivar of the native plant we actually wa...
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