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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| Texas persimmon with scorched leaves from Austin July 11, 2013 I planted a Texas Persimmon seedling (five gallon) in my yard in early April. It is in a sunny, well-drained spot, and I have watered it regularly since planting. All was fine until the last weekend i... View Mr. Smarty Plants' Answer |  | |
| Spots on persimmon tree leaves from Dripping Springs TX July 10, 2013 We are in rural Hays County Texas off Hamilton Pool Rd Texas. Large persimmon trees are turning yellow, blackish spots on underside of leaves. What do we do? View Mr. Smarty Plants' Answer | | |
| Leaf drop from live oaks in mid-summer July 08, 2013 We have a live oak that is starting to drop a considerable amount of leaves here in early July in Cypress Texas. Its a mature tree with a base diameter of 12-14" and 25-30' tall. We live in a subd... View Mr. Smarty Plants' Answer | ||
| Old oak tree dropping leaves in Hazlet Township NJ July 08, 2013 I am 84 yrs old and have a 50 year old pin? oak. No more acorns, but the leaves are falling in clumps and are still alive. Every day I fill a huge garden bag with them. I live on a fixed income and... View Mr. Smarty Plants' Answer |  | |
| Chlorotic disease in scrub oak from Katy TX July 04, 2013 Please tell me how to treat my scrub oak as it has chlorotic disease. Parts of the tree are fine and others have yellow leaves. It has not been injured in any way. View Mr. Smarty Plants' Answer |  | |
| Century plant leaves yellowing from Magnolia TX July 04, 2013 The leaves on my large Agave/Century plant are turning yellow. The bottom leaves, touching the ground are dying. Plant is 5.5" tall, 6" across & approx 10 yrs old. Recently we put red mulch around t... View Mr. Smarty Plants' Answer |  | |
| Problems with non-native weeping willow from Hazlet NJ July 03, 2013 Leaves turning yellow on weeping willow planted in May. What causes this and how can I fix it? Mother's Day gift after SANDY uprooted huge tree. View Mr. Smarty Plants' Answer | ||
| Oak roots damaged by ax from Austin July 03, 2013 Hello. I am attempting to create my own tiny copy of the Wildflower Center within my yard. I'm using all native, drought tolerant plants. My front yard is full of live oaks. I used a sod cutter la... View Mr. Smarty Plants' Answer |  | |
| Unknown ailment of Turk's cap in northeast Texas July 01, 2013 I just moved from the Dallas area to Emory in the north east part. I brought two young Turk's cap plants in pots. I had to leave the mother plant behind. The tops have a very curled and shrunken a... View Mr. Smarty Plants' Answer |  | |
| Full Sun, Wind-Tolerant Shrubs and Vines for Steep MN Hillside June 26, 2013 My neighbor and I share a very steep, large (in total almost 200 ft. wide) west-facing hillside in Excelsior, MN on Lake Minnetonka. We both have a flat grass area at the bottom so the hillside does n... View Mr. Smarty Plants' Answer |  | |
| Insects attacking Gregg's Blue Mistflower from Comfort TX June 20, 2013 I have a beautiful stand of Gregg's Blue Mist flower that have been attacked by an unknown insect. The new growth is curled and stunted and it is not flowering. I'm not alone..I've seen the Gregg'... View Mr. Smarty Plants' Answer |  | |
| White specks on unknown houseplant from Ridgeway SC June 20, 2013 I have an unknown houseplant that seems to have some sort of pest or disease on it. It has white snowy specks atop its leaf. I bought this purple fuzzy leafed houseplant from Walmart in Winnsboro, SC ... View Mr. Smarty Plants' Answer | ||
| Changing colors on Mexican Plum trees from Bellaire TX June 20, 2013 The leaves on my Mexican Plum tree have recently started turning yellow/brown and the veins in leaves are red. Is this a watering issue or disease issue? Mites are on the leaves. This has been a ra... View Mr. Smarty Plants' Answer |  | |
| Waxy deposits on Magnolia fuscata from Ethel LA June 18, 2013 I have a 4yr old Magnolia Fascata (aka banana shrub)- I noticed that it has small oval shaped yellow waxy deposits on the branches.. I have also noticed small black ants on the branches. The unknown d... View Mr. Smarty Plants' Answer | ||
| Trouble with live oak in McKinney, TX June 13, 2013 We moved into a suburban home with a live oak tree with a trunk diameter of about 50". I noticed recently how yellow the leaves look compared to the other live oak in the yard. There is not a pattern... View Mr. Smarty Plants' Answer |  | |
| Brown rings on grass under live oaks in Austin June 13, 2013 There are brown rings in the grass at the dripline on several Live Oak trees in our neighborhood. What causes this? The trees appear healthy. View Mr. Smarty Plants' Answer | ||
| Damage to Pine Tree on Cape Cod, MA June 11, 2013 My pine tree on Cape Cod has bark that is perforated with holes covering the entire tree. Bark can be removed by hand. Looks dead. What did this? View Mr. Smarty Plants' Answer | ||
| Bottlebrush buckeye not leafing out from Newburyport MA June 11, 2013 We have a bottlebrush buckeye bush that has grown and blossomed for 16 years. This spring the bush failed to produce any leaves and there are no buds in anticipation of leaves. There are a few smaller... View Mr. Smarty Plants' Answer |  | |
| What's causing holes in trunk of white oak tree in SouthBend IN? June 10, 2013 We have a huge White Oak in our backyard that is approx. 130 years old. This evening I became aware that there are several small holes around the trunk that appear to be oozing a dark sappy liquid. ... View Mr. Smarty Plants' Answer | ||
| Problems with rock rose in Austin June 10, 2013 Hi Mr Smarty Pants, We have a Texas Rock Rose which is growing next to our gravel path in Austin, with grass growing under it. In the last week, it has stopped blooming suddenly, and all the leaves h... View Mr. Smarty Plants' Answer |  | |
| Damaged leaves on bottlebrush buckeye from Glen Mills PA June 09, 2013 My recently planted bottlebrush buckeye plants' leaves are looking damaged but it doesn't look like insect or fungus damage. They look battered by wind but I don't understand why that would happen... View Mr. Smarty Plants' Answer |  | |
| Treating scarred Gum Bumelia from Lampasas TX June 05, 2013 We have a very old Gum Bumelia with a scarred open tree trunk. In the past concrete was used to fill the scarred trunk. What is the acceptable method of helping the tree. More concrete or using blac... View Mr. Smarty Plants' Answer |  | |
| Western soapberry dropping leaves in San Antonio June 03, 2013 My Western Soapberry tree (China berry?) Suddenly started dropping full, perfectly healthy green, leaf units. Now half the tree is turning yellow. There is a second tree in the yard not far from this ... View Mr. Smarty Plants' Answer |  | |
| Problems with non-native Callery Pear tree from Louisville KY June 03, 2013 I have a Cleveland select that has a bark issue. It is on its second season and I just saw this. It looks like the bark is bubbling up kinda and then wants to peel off the main trunk. I have a picture... View Mr. Smarty Plants' Answer | ||
| Leaves on new water oak turning brown from Matagorda TX May 30, 2013 We had water oaks planted in January when they had no leaves. Leaves came on but are now turning brown. View Mr. Smarty Plants' Answer | ||
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