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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Monday - September 01, 2014

From: Buda, TX
Region: Southwest
Topic: Plant Identification
Title: Is Tagetes lemmonii (Copper Canyon Daisy) native to the Southwest?
Answered by: Nan Hampton

QUESTION:

Due to the continued drought I have resolved to only use native plants in my garden. Copper canyon daisy is be recommended more often at nurseries. The NPSOT lists it a native of Arizona, yet I cannot find it in your plant database. Can you help me determine if it is a native to the Southwest?

ANSWER:

Yes, Tagetes lemmonnii (Lemmon's marigold, Copper Canyon daisy) is native to to Arizona and Northern Mexico. You will notice that it is now in our Native Plant Database (NPD). We do have a majority of plants native to North America in our NPD but occasionally we wait until we have photographs to display with the species before we add them. If you have photos of this species that you would like to contribute, please visit our Contribute Images page to learn how to do this.