Ask Mr. Smarty Plants

This sort of question is ordinarily out of our line of expertise, except for the phrase "native plants." However, in the last year, we have had three questions to Mr. Smarty Plants that had the same general subject. All of them have links to other references and websites that might be of help to you. If, in the course of your research, you have found the names of some plants that fit your requirements, you can then go to our Native Plant Database, and search on the scientific name of the plant. If it is not in our database, there is a good chance that it is not native to North America. You could then Google on the scientific name and see what more you can find out about that specific plant.

Here are the links to the previous answers.

Trace element absorption by plants.

Reducing lead in soils.

Alkalinity tolerant grasses.

All of these answers to questions on metals in soils were done by other, more informed, members of the Mr. Smarty Plants team, and their names will appear on the individual answer. This particular member is better at advising you on when to trim your salvias, but fortunately, we have people who can answer the hard ones.