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.

Help us grow by giving to the Plant Database Fund or by becoming a member

Did you know you can access the Native Plant Information Network with your web-enabled smartphone?

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.

Search Smarty Plants

See a list of all Smarty Plants questions

Please forgive us, but Mr. Smarty Plants has been overwhelmed by a flood of mail and must take a break for awhile to catch up. We hope to be accepting new questions again soon. Thank you!

Need help with plant identification, visit the plant identification page.

rate this answer

Not Yet Rated

Friday - June 26, 2015

From: Seattle, WA
Region: Northwest
Topic: Butterfly Gardens, Wildflowers
Title: Pollinators for Washington State
Answered by: Larry Larson

QUESTION:

Dear Mr. Smarty Plants, I am removing invasive knotweed in the Pacific Northwest and I would like to provide native plant alternatives that would flower and provide pollen in the late summer/fall for native and naturalized pollinators. Please help and thank you in advance!

ANSWER:

Mr Smarty Plants and the Wildflower Center thank you for chasing after and removing that Fallopia japonica.

We have a good tool for suggesting alternatives. The Wildflower Center maintains lists of Special Collections of native plants organized by area and function. One of these is the Special Collection for “Special Value to Native Bees” [there are also lists for Bumble Bees, Honey Bees and for nesting materials for native bees]

These special collections have the capability to search the data for region and a number of characteristics. As you asked about candidates that bloom in late summer or fall – I selected Washington State and plants that bloomed in August through December. This still left 109 candidates, so I think you have a pretty good choice. I’ll include pictures from twelve of them below, but you should try to use this database yourself to make a selection!