Native Plants
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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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| Green worms on salvias October 12, 2008 I recently bought a "salvia blue chiquita." Some leaves were yellowing, but full of flowers and still attractive. Have had it on my deck for less than a week and have found 2 tiny greenish "worms... View Mr. Smarty Plants' Answer | ||
| Plant to repel snakes September 23, 2008 name of a plant or plants that repell snakes. View Mr. Smarty Plants' Answer | ||
| Leaves dropping on native Texas Mountain Laurel in San Antonio September 20, 2008 Please help. We have a beautiful TX Mountain Laurel in our front yard. This year the leaves are dropping like snow in the north. What do you think is wrong with our tree? View Mr. Smarty Plants' Answer | ||
| Insect infestation of plants, dog and home September 14, 2008 I have plants that some kind of bug is killing them, my fan plam, ficus tree and other plants. The leaves are drying up and falling off. Apparently, they also are infestion my apartment. I feel them c... View Mr. Smarty Plants' Answer | ||
| Pruning mature cedar elm trees in San Antonio September 14, 2008 When is the right time to prune my several mature cedar elm trees? I'm in San Antonio, and they have never been trimmed in the 55 years we have lived in this home. I have several that are at least 7... View Mr. Smarty Plants' Answer | ||
| Information about giant yellow and black wasps September 13, 2008 Regarding a previous question submitted by a person asking about the giant yellow and black wasps..It's a Cicada Killer.I used to see them all the time when I was a kid in Victoria, Tx..But I haven'... View Mr. Smarty Plants' Answer | ||
| Giant black and yellow wasp September 08, 2008 I live in Elgin, Bastrop County. This Aug/Sept. 2008 has revealed a huge black and yellow striped wasp. What is this creature and where does he come from? I'm a native Texan (Austin County) and hav... View Mr. Smarty Plants' Answer | ||
| Keeping cows from eating the garden September 02, 2008 I have a flowerbed area outside of our new split-rail fence available for planting, but cattle roam outside the fence also! Do you have any suggestions for plants that cows tend not to eat (unle... View Mr. Smarty Plants' Answer | ||
| Mildew and rot in navel orange tree in California September 02, 2008 I have a great navel orange tree that seems to have two problems. One of them looks like powdery mildew and the other is some kind of black rot. I have sprayed it several times to no avail. I live ... View Mr. Smarty Plants' Answer | ||
| Problems with lantanas in Austin September 02, 2008 Lantanas redux! I'm having similar problems with my Lantana here in Austin, Texas, as the person in Bandera. My husband has cut it back to the ground twice this summer. It returns, beautiful vibra... View Mr. Smarty Plants' Answer | ||
| Mosquito repellent plant? September 01, 2008 I would like to know if there is a plant that keeps mosquitoes away. Thanks View Mr. Smarty Plants' Answer | ||
| Yellow, pale green leaves on Cedar Elms in Texas August 30, 2008 I have had several cedar elms of various sizes planted in our yard over the last 10 years. Only the largest has dark green, healthy looking leaves. All the others have yellowish, pale green leaves. Th... View Mr. Smarty Plants' Answer | ||
| Chipmunk in the garden. August 27, 2008 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... View Mr. Smarty Plants' Answer | ||
| Strange growth on oak tree August 26, 2008 i have a very strange round segmented growth on a tree in my yard. i think the tree is a chinkapin oak and the growth is a reddish color. it looks like a ball with suction cups on it. it is very st... View Mr. Smarty Plants' Answer | ||
| Insect pests in Gaillardia aristata in Tennessee August 22, 2008 Dear Mr. Smarty Plants, I have a couple of 'Oranges and Lemons' blanketflower plants in a butterfly and hummingbird native flower garden that is the foundation planting of my house. They bloom prol... View Mr. Smarty Plants' Answer | ||
| Damage to native elm in Texas August 20, 2008 We had a major landscape renovation done over the winter. One of the trees, an elm about 10 yrs old, remained in the bed although plants around it were removed. The tree has suddenly started turning... View Mr. Smarty Plants' Answer | ||
| Fungus type problem on native blackeyed susans in Ohio August 20, 2008 I have black eyed susans that have recently developed a black fungus type problem in the bottom and on the leaves. The flowers are now wilting and dying. What is this and how can I stop it from possib... View Mr. Smarty Plants' Answer |  | |
| Failure to bloom of non-native Althea in Oklahoma August 17, 2008 I have 2 Althea bushes that will not bloom. For the past 2 years, they become covered in buds, which eventually yellow, but never open. The buds are fully developed. This year the branches have starte... View Mr. Smarty Plants' Answer | ||
| Leaf drop from maple tree in Minnesota August 15, 2008 I have about a 30 ft maple tree in my yard, last fall I trimmed it pretty good because the branches were getting low where you could not walk under it or get grass to grow. This is the 2nd time in abo... View Mr. Smarty Plants' Answer | ||
| Hollies not retaining leaves in Tulsa August 10, 2008 I have Little Red Hollies that have lost their leaves, some areas being bald. They are also not full - you can see through them. These were planted in this condition Spring of '08 and have been wat... View Mr. Smarty Plants' Answer | ||
| What is eating the plants in my garden? August 08, 2008 I have both purple and yellow coneflowers. Something is coming into my garden and eating the flowers off the stems. We don't have deer but may have other small animals that can get into our yard. Do ... View Mr. Smarty Plants' Answer | ||
| Failure to thrive of Lantanas August 06, 2008 Here at work we have 4 beautiful yellow Santanas(should I say had), the leaves have started to turn brown and no longer blooming. Appears to have a fungus or disease. Please help! View Mr. Smarty Plants' Answer | ||
| Loss of leaves on yaupon in Austin August 05, 2008 Last winter I planted a Pride of Houston yaupon. Currently, the leaves at the tips of its stems are green and healthy, but the leaves along the stems are turning dark brown and falling off. Does... View Mr. Smarty Plants' Answer | ||
| Yellowing leaves on weeping willow August 03, 2008 We have a 4 year old Weeping Willow, 12+/- ft. tall and this week the leaves are starting to become yellow. This willow is full and robust in appearance, best it's ever looked. We have 2 other Wee... View Mr. Smarty Plants' Answer | ||
| Loss of leaves from globe willows in Utah July 26, 2008 I have four globe willows that have been in my back yard for the past 6 years. For the past month they have been losing their leaves from the bottom up. We had aphids in some of our other trees and ... View Mr. Smarty Plants' Answer | ||
| Burning sulfur over coals in the home for insect control. July 18, 2008 Is burning sulfur(over hot coals) in your home a safe way of getting rid of ants and insects? View Mr. Smarty Plants' Answer | ||
| Verticillium wilt in catalpa and maple July 17, 2008 On Monday - July 07, 2008, you answered a question about a catalpa and maple with the same problem--an entire branch died, and then more of the tree died. And both trees came from the same nursery. Th... View Mr. Smarty Plants' Answer | ||
| Corona de Cristo, guest or pest? July 12, 2008 We have had two recent speakers at the Austin Butterfly Forum with differing views as to whether Passiflora foetida is invasive in Texas. One believes that it's well-behaved and a a great butterfly ... View Mr. Smarty Plants' Answer | ||
| Leaf burn on hydrangeas July 11, 2008 What causes my leaves to burn on my healthy hydrangeas? View Mr. Smarty Plants' Answer | ||
| Rust spots on non-native red tip photinia July 10, 2008 I live in Oklahoma and my red tips have rust spots on leaves and some plants are losing leaves. This is a clay soil; can you give me any info. on how to solve this problem? View Mr. Smarty Plants' Answer | ||
| Catalpa and maple with dying branches in Wisconsin July 07, 2008 We have a northern catalpa in our front yard. It's been there for about three years now and is probably 25' high. This year it appeared to be doing great. It flowered and then all of sudden last ... View Mr. Smarty Plants' Answer |  | |
| Brown spots in St. Augustine grass July 05, 2008 Mr. Smarty Plants, My husband and I are in the Air Force and were recently moved to Cibolo Texas. We built a home and hired a landscaper to finish the yard May 07 (with irrigation system). We laid d... View Mr. Smarty Plants' Answer | ||
| Non-blooming Tecoma stans in Fredericksburg, TX June 30, 2008 We have an esperanza plant purchased last year from Walmart and planted outside before winter. It flowered excellently last year. Just before winter we cut it back to about a foot. So far this summer ... View Mr. Smarty Plants' Answer | ||
| What about the brown dots on my Silver sage? June 27, 2008 During the past year, the leaves on my silver sage bushes around the perimeter of the front of my house have turned yellow in places and there are tiny brown dots on virtually all of the leaves. If I ... View Mr. Smarty Plants' Answer |  | |
| Premature leaf drop on Red Maple in Kentucky June 25, 2008 I have a ten foot Red Maple tree that has been set out for 4 years. Its leaves have slowly turned colors until it currently looks like fall. The leaves are not falling off nor is there yet any s... View Mr. Smarty Plants' Answer | ||
| Peach tree problems in Long Island, NY June 16, 2008 This year my peachtree is bearing fruit for the first time. I live in Long Island NY. I notice a sap on the bark near the soil. Also some leaves are getting disease looking and some peaches are loo... View Mr. Smarty Plants' Answer | ||
| Decline in willow tree in West Virginia June 15, 2008 I planted a willow tree about three years ago and it was progressing just beautifully with full leaves this spring in a nice green color. We staked it back about three weeks so it would grow straight... View Mr. Smarty Plants' Answer | ||
| Apparent disease in peach tree in Austin June 12, 2008 I have a peach tree that the leaves are "bleeding" out on. The leaves are continuing to get paler and paler. There are no peaches on the tree this year either. What can I do? View Mr. Smarty Plants' Answer | ||
| Black growth on sotol plants June 08, 2008 My mature sotol plants have a black-like growth on the leaves. Is there any thing I can do to treat what looks like a disease on these plants? View Mr. Smarty Plants' Answer | ||
| Cause of yellowing buffalo grass (Bouteloua dactyloides) June 07, 2008 We are getting large yellow areas in our buffalo grass lawn and think this is probably due to grub worms. Are grub worms the likely culprit and if so, what is the best way to get rid of them? We don... View Mr. Smarty Plants' Answer | ||
| Brown flakes on prickly pear in Los Angeles June 03, 2008 I live in Los Angeles CA. I have desert type plants in my landscape. I have prickly pear cactus that have developed some light brown, almost golden flakes on the skin of the pads. I believe it is call... View Mr. Smarty Plants' Answer | ||
| Mice eating seeds put out for birds June 02, 2008 I love feeding the wild birds and put out seed in our backyard. Now, I have a family of mice eating the seed and they are living in the trunk of our elm tree! How can I get rid of them without killi... View Mr. Smarty Plants' Answer | ||
| Problems with non-native Cleyera and Red-tip photinia June 01, 2008 I planted a row of Cleyera in a bed that receives sunlight for about 3 hours during the middle of the day. My problem is that a number of the plants are dying. It begins with the leaves on one small... View Mr. Smarty Plants' Answer | ||
| Possible mildew on standing cypress May 29, 2008 My mother-in-law took some standing cypress seeds from Texas to Virginia several years ago. They have always done very well, but this year they are growing very tall, but the bottom half of the stalk... View Mr. Smarty Plants' Answer | ||
| Transplant shock in Liatris spicata May 25, 2008 I bought a liatris spicata start a month ago, and transplanted it into my front yard (full sun, clay soil, moist due to all the rain recently). The plant immediately wilted so I transplanted it in ... View Mr. Smarty Plants' Answer | ||
| Evergreen groundcover under pine tree in NY May 23, 2008 Hello! I live in upstate NY. I'm trying to find an evergreen ground cover to plant under a pine tree. I believe it's a white spruce (but I'm not postive). I've read conflicting information reg... View Mr. Smarty Plants' Answer | ||
| Leaf cutter ants in potted Mexican lime tree May 21, 2008 Hi, I'd like to add a question to the recent post about leaf-cutter ants. I have a potted mexican lime tree that has been inhabited by an ant colony for several months. They are chewing holes in th... View Mr. Smarty Plants' Answer | ||
| Chlorosis in tropical milkweed and asclepias tuberosa May 18, 2008 I planted both tropical milkweed and asclepias tuberosa. Both are chlorotic and the native milkweed has brown upturned leaves. Could it possibly be too much water? Or what? View Mr. Smarty Plants' Answer | ||
| Yellowing of palm tree leaves May 14, 2008 I want to know about palm trees. The leaves are turning yellow. View Mr. Smarty Plants' Answer |  | |
| Natural lifespan of wild plum trees May 12, 2008 We have a small border of Wild Plum Trees in our yard. Every year it seem that one or two of the biggest trees die. Do they have a specific life span? We transplanted the trees/bushes from the panh... View Mr. Smarty Plants' Answer | ||
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