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

Monday - September 14, 2015

From: katy, TX
Region: Southwest
Topic: Planting, Shrubs
Title: need recommendation for small evergreen shrub in Katy, TX
Answered by: Jimmy Mills

QUESTION:

recommendation regarding small to mediun evergreen palnt in full sun in 2feet by8 feet area.

ANSWER:

You seem to value brevity, so Mr. Smarty Plants will make this a short as possible, and still come up with a useful answer.

Going to our Special Collections page for Texas-Central Recommended will give you a list of 155 commercially available native plant species suitable for planned landscapes in Central Texas. This list is too large for now, so you need to go to the Narrow Your Search box on the left side of of the page, and make the following selections. Select Texas under State, Shrub under General Appearance, and Perennial under Life Span. Check Sun under Light Requirement, Dry under Soil Moisture. Skip Bloom Time and Bloom Color for now, and check 3-6 (or your preference) under Height. Skip Leaf Arrangement, and check Evergreen (or your preference) under Leaf Retention. Click on the Narrow your Search button, and your list has shrunk to 3. Clicking on the scientific name of each plant will bring up its NPIN page which has information about the plant’s characteristics, growth requirements, and in most cases, images. Going through the list will let you know if a particular plant will fill your needs. You can generate other lists by changing some of your choices, eg height, soil moisture, leaf retention, etc.

For a source of help that is closer to home, contact the Houston chapter of the Native Plant Society of Texas, NPSOT-H.

Native Plants

Ask Mr. Smarty Plants

rate this answer

Monday - September 14, 2015

QUESTION:

ANSWER:

More Planting Questions