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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 is a free service provided by the staff and volunteers at the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center.

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Monday - November 29, 2004

From: Clifton, TX
Region: Southwest
Topic: Wildlife Gardens, Soils
Title: Native landscaping and wildlife gardening in Clifton, TX
Answered by: Nan Hampton

QUESTION:

I am moving to Clifton, TX, and I will have an empty lot in the town along with my own home/lot. What kind of soil can I expect? I want to grow a wildflower site to just sit and enjoy and feed the animals and care for the land on the empty lot. I am not very knowledgeable about gardening in Texas.

ANSWER:

Clifton is in Bosque County in east-central Texas. The "Soil Survey of Bosque County, Texas" prepared by the USDA, Soil Conservation Service in cooperation with Texas Agricultural Experiment Station (1980) characterizes the soils of Bosque County as "dominantly very shallow to deep, well drained soils underlain by limestone....These gently sloping to steep soils have a clayey and loamy surface layer that is gravelly or cobbly. Most of these soils is used for rangeland."

You can find information about native landscaping and wildlife gardening relevant to Texas on our web page in the Native Plant Library.
 

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