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
DFW, TX
Identification of prickly vine in north Texas
While trimming the shrubs around my suburban house I noticed (and my legs were torn up by!) a vine-like plant with small green serrated leaves and millions of small, very sharp thorns. I search Invasi...
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Grapevine, TX
Removing St. Augustine for natives in Grapevine TX
We have St Augustine in our yard and we hate it. It guzzles water, we have to cut it often, and it's thick and hard to work with.
Anyway, we want to replace it with a combination of some kind of g...
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Grapevine, TX
Plants for shade under pine trees in Grapevine TX
What plants are good to put under pine trees in the shade? I live in the Dallas Fort Worth area? The previous owners stuck a Japanese Maple in there that seems to be ok and some sort of holly bush (n...
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Grapevine, TX
Will native plants become invasive from Grapevine TX
Main Question - I want to convert my front and back yards into a native plant sanctuary but worry about if these plants growing out of control/invasive and if neighbors will complain about these "wee...
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Grapevine, TX
Removing existing shrubs from Grapevine TX
We just bought a house and we have some shrubs and hedges we want to remove. What is the best way to remove them so that they don't grow back? We have some holly hedges, a very large cedar or juniper...
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Grapevine, TX
Wildflower seeds to be sown on roadway for wedding
My daughter is planning an outdoor wedding reception at a ranch in
Granbury, Texas, on April 29, 2006. We would like to sow wildflower seeds
along the roadway leading to the ranch. What flowers woul...
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Grapevine, TX
Sources for Bouteloua dactyloides in the Dallas/Ft. Worth area
We live in the Dallas/Fort Worth area. Over the last few years our lawn has withered and now we are almost grassless. After researching we are considering planting Buffalo grass. However, after spend...
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Grapevine, TX
Recovering neglected garden space from Grapevine TX
I live in Grapevine TX (Dallas). I just moved into a house where almost the entire large backyard is covered by oak trees that shed tons of leaves throughout our mild falls/winters. The yard has not...
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Euless , TX
Plant identification
I don't know if they are native or not, My mom bought some plants at an event at the Dallas Convention Center that all had rocks and little dirt that they sat on. The bases of the plants were large a...
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Euless, TX
Why do my Possumhaw Holly berries fall of in the summer in Euless, TX?
My possumhaw holly has LOTS of green berries in the spring but they fall off in summer, so that I have only a handful of red berries in the winter. What is going wrong?
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Euless, TX
Identification of vine with red flowers, fern-like leaves
Last year I saw a plant at the State Fair. It had small fern like leaves to it with beautiful little red flowers. It was a vine plant of some sort. They told me that it was native to the Hill Countr...
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Euless, TX
Mosquito repelling plants from Euless TX
Are there any shade loving plants that repel mosquitoes for North Central Texas?
I checked your site and saw nothing on this topic.
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Euless, TX
Yaupons not showing berries in Euless, TX
From all I have read, Possumhaw holly is supposed to have berries only on the female. However I have been told and read conflicting things about whether you must have both a male & female in order f...
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Euless, TX
Allergy-causing plant in the Dallas/Fort Worth metroplex area
Do you know what is growing (or floating in the air) in the DFW metroplex now, but not growing or floating the rest of the year?
I have a 3 year old that has gotten extremely itchy this time of the ...
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Euless, TX
Wax myrtle for screening in Euless, TX
We live in the Dallas-Fort Worth area. We need something to use as a screen along our back fence, to block the view of our neighbor's storage building. We are looking for a tall shrub that we can s...
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Euless, TX
Cherry Laurel for North Central Texas
I want a small evergreen tree (approx 20'x 15')and would like to plant a Cherry Laurel. Would this be a good choice in North Central Texas (DFW area)? If not, any suggestions? Thank You.
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Euless, TX
Determining male/female wax myrtles
We are planning to use Wax Myrtle as a screen plant, and want to be sure that we are successful in having berries for the birds. We have read that berries are only on the female plants. When we aske...
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Southlake, TX
Preparation for wildflower meadow at elementary school
I am a Scout working on starting a wildflower meadow at an Elementary school. How should I prepare the ground and what types of seeds do well in zipcode area 76092? I would also like so add some nat...
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Southlake, TX
Using Coffee Grounds under Live Oaks in Texas?
Can you add coffee grounds to live oak tree?
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Southlake, TX
Information on Texas wildflowers
Does your site (or another site known to you) have a link to provide information on when our Texas wildflowers should emerge this year at various locations in the state, and whether this year is expec...
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Southlake, TX
Guidelines for planting native wildflowers on roadside
My 4th grade Girl Scout troop has chosen to plant bluebonnets and other wild flowers along TX Hwy 114 in Southlake as their project for their Bronze Award. Do you have a guideline that you follow w...
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