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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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Did you know you can access the Native Plant Information Network with your web-enabled smartphone?

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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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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!

Need help with plant identification, visit the plant identification page.

 
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Wednesday - May 20, 2009

From: Dallas, TX
Region: Southwest
Topic: Planting, Herbs/Forbs, Shrubs
Title: Need plants for full sun in Dallas Texas.
Answered by: Jimmy Mills

QUESTION:

What plants are best to use for full sun in Dallas Texas?

ANSWER:

Sunflowers come to mind.

Seriously, since you didn't mention what kind of plants you have in mind, let's go to our website and let you make some choices. If you go to our Recommended Species page and select North Central Texas on the map, you will get a list of 105 commercially available native plant species suitable for planned landscapes in Texas. Go to   "Narrow Your Search" in the right hand panel where you can become more selective.

You see that you have several parameters along with "full sun" from which to choose. For the first run, choose TX for the state, Herb under "Habit", Perennial under "Duration", Sun under "Light requirement", the appropriate moisture for your site under "Soil moisture" (I chose moist), and the appropriate bloom characteristics (you can leave that blank for now).  Click the "Narrow your search" button and you will get a list of 12 plants that meet these criteria. Clicking on each plant name will bring up its NPIN page that describes the plant's characteristics.

You can modify your listing by changing the choices in each box for the types of plants that you have in mind.

Once you have found some plant names, go to our Suppliers Directory to locate businesses in North Texas that have these plants for sale.

 

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April 03, 2008 - Dear Mr. Smarty Plants, Could you recommend a dwarf evergreen shrub, not deciduous that also has pretty flowers that would thrive in a container in the northeast...area would have sun for about 4 -5...
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Large shrub or tree for front door in Houston
January 16, 2013 - I am in search of a shrub or tree to plant next to my front door. I want a showy medium sized shrub or tree (8 to 12 ft), decorative, and a privacy screen since my front door faces my next door neig...
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Planting Candelilla from Austin
July 12, 2013 - Good Morning and thank you for answering my question!! I am interested in planting a Candelilla plant (it looks like small bamboo plants growing only a 2-3 feet tall. I heard it is supposed to be ver...
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