Ask Mr. Smarty Plants

Without knowing what your plant is, it would be impossible for us to recommend growing instructions for it. We are guessing that it is probably non-native to North America, as are many house plants. They tend to be tropicals that can endure the extremes of living indoors. At the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center, our expertise is all about the care, use and protection of plants native not only to North America but to the area in which the plant is being grown. Let us help you learn how to search the Internet for pictures and information that will get you on the right track. Start with this Texas A&M site, Interiorscape Plants Pictures Pages. By following instructions for identifying plants on that site, you can at least get an idea of what kind of house plant you have. Next, look at the gflora.com website The Encyclopedia of House Plants, again following instructions for further searches. Finally, as you develop clues from the descriptions and pictures on the first two sites, you can go to PlantCare.com Plant Care for Indoor House Plants and get your more specific questions answered. As a very last resort, you can send us a picture, and we will try to identify it for you, but, as we said, we are only good at native plants and your house plants probably are not native, so you'll have better luck searching on your own. Go to our Plant Identification page for instructions on sending pictures.