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
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
Jackson, MS
Year-round wildflower display in Mississippi
I live in central Mississippi and I'm interested in transforming a 2,000 sq. ft. turf area of my yard into a showy wildflower exhibit that will bloom from now(July) until winter and even possibly thr...
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Jackson, MS
Southern Live Oak Authority for Jackson MS
Who are the foremost authorities on Southern Live Oaks? May need expert testimony to oppose cutting of 50 year-old live oaks in boulevard of Riverside Drive in Jackson, MS
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Jackson, MS
Cold hardiness zones for plants from Jackson MS
How to search the plant database by cold-hardiness zone?
Is it possible to do combination search by zone (not just state?)
With the information provided with plant, I do not see the zone listed.
Ma...
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Clinton, MS
Small flowering tree for MS
I had to cut down some trees that had grown too close to my foundation, but would like to re-plant something a little farther from the house (12-16 feet away) that would still serve as a screen outsid...
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Madison, MS
Edibility of peppervine berries from Madison MS
I am following up on a question I've posed to many well experienced foragers and naturalists regarding the pepper vine plant or Ampelopsis arbor. There are many conflicting stories regarding the edib...
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Madison, MS
Non-blooming parsley hawthorn in Madison MS
I have a parsley hawthorn that has never bloomed. It is thriving in a low area under tall pines. It gets filtered sun most of the day with more direct sun in late afternoon. I don't know the age but...
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Flora, MS
Lists of native plants in Rome, Italy area
Do you know anywhere that I can find a list of native plants in Italy, especially in the Rome area.
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Vicksburg, MS
Mystery plant in Vicksburg, MS
I have a strange plant that has come up by a ditch next to my house. I've lived here 23 years and have never seen anything like it. I can only guess that it came up from a packet of wildflower seed...
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Vicksburg, MS
Identification of vine with hair-like prickles
Trying to find out what kind of vine I ran into yesterday while climbing a deer stand. While pushing limbs and vines down from around me, I noticed hair-like thorns stuck in my sleeves and hands. This...
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Newton, MS
Plant identification
I need to identify a weed-like plant ~1 ft high with thick stems, wide leaves ending in a single point and bluish-purple tear shaped petals arranged three in a triangle.
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Laurel, MS
Propagation of century plants from "pups"
I have two small century plants...about 10 inches tall...they are "pups" from an older one. one of them has three or four very small roots and the other looks like it was pulled up out of the ground...
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Laurel, MS
Problems with water oaks from Laurel MS
The leaves on my mature water oak trees have been falling since the leaves matured. My area has had an abundance of rain this year, 11 inches above normal. All the trees in my area are doing the same....
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Columbia, MS
Groundcover for under live oak in Mississippi
I need a non-invasive ground cover to plant under my live oak.
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Columbia, MS
Controlling sedge in vegetable garden in Mississippi
I have a veg. garden surrounded by Purple Sedge. The nut grass has been contained/eliminated by replacing all dirt 1' down. Now the surrounding sedge is beginning to creep inward infesting the gard...
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Oak Grove, LA
Toxicity of Peruvian Lilies (Alstroemeria sp) for food decoration
Hi, I am trying to find out if I can decorate a cake using live alstroemeria laid on top of the icing. I would not want to eat the flower, just lay it on top to look pretty before removing and servi...
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Tylertown, MS
Fertilizing oaks to produce acorns
Will fertilizing oak trees help with acorn production?
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Hattiesburg, MS
Need landscape suggestions for area exposed after last flood on Black Creek in Forrest County. MS
We live on the Black Creek in Mississippi. After the last flood, we now have a steep sandy slope which is unmowable, and incredibly weedy. We want to remove the unsightly weeds- kill if necessary, and...
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Hattiesburg, MS
Source of Dalea greggii seeds
I want to purchase Gregg Dalea seeds. Where can I order them?
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Hattiesburg, MS
Plants for red clay in Hattiesburg, MS
Looking for plants and flowers to plant in red clay?
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Hattiesburg, MS
Pruning Citrus Suckers
Mr. Smarty Plants, you are the only person that has "not" insisted that the little balls on Satsuma and lemon trees were clumps of bugs. They are surely what you described in the answer to my previo...
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Hattiesburg, MS
Fuzzy Citrus Fruit on Satsuma and Lemon Trees
A man asked you about fuzzy little small fruit-like balls that looked like tiny lemons. I have huge numbers of these on both my mature Satsuma and lemon tree this year. I get 100's of really great f...
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