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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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.

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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!

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Wednesday - March 12, 2008

From: Highland Park, IL
Region: Midwest
Topic: User Comments, Wildflowers
Title: Texas bluebonnets for Illinois
Answered by: Barbara Medford

QUESTION:

Thank you Mr. Smarty Plants. I will be closely checking the variety of Texas bluebonnets that I tried to plant. For the record, I did soak them first to loosen the seed shell. I think we probably just had the wrong variety for our zone. Looking forward to reading your very detailed answer! Thank you!!

ANSWER:

Our pleasure. Good luck.

From the Image Gallery

Texas bluebonnet
Lupinus texensis