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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Friday - August 15, 2008
From: McKinney, TX
Region: Southwest
Topic: Plant Identification
Title: Plant identification
Answered by: Nan Hampton
QUESTION:
Virginia Creeper or something else? I live in McKinney, Tx, and have a limestone escarpment in back that leads down to a "white rock " creek. A wrought iron fence separates the yard area from the riparian woods that slope down to the creek.The fence has been covered by Japanese Honeysuckle, which I have been removing.I discovered a plant growing in another part of the yard which looks like Virginia Creeper(5 palmate leaf,trailing on ground). I see prickles on the stems which I don't remember seeing on other Virginia Creeper plants--- Is this Virginia Creeper or something else? I'm thinking of transplanting it to the fence & allowing it to trail down the bank to the creek to help stabilize the bank.ANSWER:
Mr. Smarty Plants hasn't been able to come up with a Virginia-creeper-like plant with prickles on the stem so I think we're going to need some photographs to solve this mystery. Please take photos of the plant as a whole, closeups of the leaves, and closeups of the stems with the prickles and we will do our best to identify it. Visit the Ask Mr. Smarty Plants page to read the instructions (under "Plant Identification") for submitting photos.More Plant Identification Questions
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