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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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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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Monday - November 17, 2008

From: Leander, TX
Region: Southwest
Topic: General Botany
Title: Can users sort plant lists in the Plant Database?
Answered by: Philip Hawkins

QUESTION:

Although your database searches are very useful, I would like to take it further, for example by sorting the "Central Texas Recommended" list on various columns, as you might do in a spreadsheet. Does that capability exist?

ANSWER:

Mr. Smarty Plants is always excited to hear from folks who use the Wildflower Center's Native Plant Database.Your recommendation for sort-able columns inside of plant lists is a great idea and it is easy to see how such functionality could come in handy.  Unfortunately because of the size of the database as well as how the information is organized, that ability does not exist.  However, the Wildflower Center is constantly improving our website and we hope to provide even better user experience in the future, which will hopefully include sort-able columns.
 

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