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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| Eliminating yuccas from yard in Woodinville, WA August 21, 2008 My plant areas are being overrun by Yucca plants. They are also growing and destroying my asphalt driveway. How can I get rid of some of them permanently? View Mr. Smarty Plants' Answer | ||
| Bugs on yucca plant in New Jersey August 06, 2008 I noticed small bugs ALL OVER 4 established yucca plants all near each other. They may look like Halticotoma valida but I'm not positive. There is no brown on the leaves except for the large amount... View Mr. Smarty Plants' Answer | ||
| Is Sedum recommended for a greenroof project in Houston July 23, 2008 Would you recommend using Sedum for a green roof project in Houston, Texas? Will the humidity effect the sedum? If sedum would be a poor choice, what would you recommend for Houston? View Mr. Smarty Plants' Answer | ||
| Texas natives to plant in July and August July 23, 2008 My husband and I have a disaster of a lawn that we were planning to develop slowly, over time, with a sustainable design we contracted from a landscape designer. However, we are having to move out of... View Mr. Smarty Plants' Answer | ||
| Large agave (century plant) flower stalk June 17, 2008 HI.I live in Blythe, Ca. and have a GIANT of an agave in my back yard. It is now over 40'high and is blooming. I first noticed the stock growing at Easter when it was about 12' high. It is now t... View Mr. Smarty Plants' Answer |  | |
| What to do with bloom stalk on yucca June 08, 2008 Six years ago, I dug up two small narrow-leaf yuccas from a deer lease outside of Junction, Texas. I planted them in a raised bed in my yard and the smaller of the two survived and grew. To my surpris... View Mr. Smarty Plants' Answer | ||
| Landscaping on South Padre Island June 07, 2008 I'm in charge of landscaping at my beachfront condo in South Padre Island and find the wind, salt air, and heat challenging for growing almost anything. We would like to incorporate native plants, b... View Mr. Smarty Plants' Answer | ||
| Leaves turning black on Agave americana June 06, 2008 Dear Mr. Smarty Plants- We have a ~5-year-old agave americana that began to have leaves turn yellow (to black in some areas) just this past spring (2008). A neighbor's tree had started to overhang t... View Mr. Smarty Plants' Answer | ||
| Trimming back Agave havardiana June 05, 2008 Hi.. thanks for all the great information on Agaves. We have a number of Agave Havardiana (blue) that love where we planted them. Several have gotten HUGE. So much so that they are starting to ge... View Mr. Smarty Plants' Answer |  | |
| Mystery cactus in Williamson County, Texas May 27, 2008 We have a cactus plant on our place that I have not seen anywhere else in central Texas. The flowers are bright yellow with wine-red centers, but very sparse--only one flower blooms at a time. The p... View Mr. Smarty Plants' Answer |  | |
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