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 - February 25, 2005
From: London, Other
Region: Select Region
Topic: Cacti and Succulents
Title: How do cacti stay in ground
Answered by: Nan Hampton
QUESTION:
How do cacti stay in ground? I know that flowers stay in the ground by their roots but what about cacti?ANSWER:
Cactus have roots, too. Some have shallow spreading root systems and some have large tap roots or a cluster of tubers. An old night-blooming cereus (Peniocereus greggii) can have a very large tap root weighing as much as 100 pounds. to read more about cactus, you can visit the Cactus Museum web page. The cacti use their shallow roots to absorb water when it rains, but many of these roots may die when it becomes dry. Read about How Cactus Survive in the Desert.More Cacti and Succulents Questions
Native plants for full sun and low maintenance
May 13, 2006 - I have volunteered to plant flowers/bushes around a sign at my church. I want to plant indigenous plants so the maintenance is low but I also want attractive plants. The soil is clay and the locatio...
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Identification of Wood from Frying Pan Ranch Near Amarillo, TX (possibly Cholla)
April 26, 2013 - I'm doing research for a museum exhibition and have been told the "holey" piece of wood from The Frying Pan Ranch near Amarillo Texas is "chollya" but I can find no information. Can you help?
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Native plants for full sun in Austin
April 03, 2009 - I am looking for a tough, native TX plant to put in full sun location between the sidewalk and street. I would love for it to flower all summer. There is some irrigation but not much. I don't want ...
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Seeds of agave attenuata from San Diego CA
April 16, 2012 - After the agave attenuata bloom dried up there are seeds like thing hanging on the foxtail; do I leave it until it dies or do I chop that down. Are those seeds for propagation. The leaves of the plan...
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Smarty Plants on bio-security
June 11, 2005 - Hello,
My friend and I are summer interns at the Bryan Mound Strategic Petroleum Reserve Site in Freeport, Texas. Our jobs as the interns is to find a plant that is friendly to the animals around our...
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