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.

Help us grow by giving to the Plant Database Fund or by becoming a member

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

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.

Search Smarty Plants

See a list of all Smarty Plants questions

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.

rate this answer

Not Yet Rated

Tuesday - June 09, 2009

From: Niagara Falls, NY
Region: Northeast
Topic: Non-Natives, Watering
Title: Trailing snapdragon hanging basket has flowers that are turning brown.
Answered by: Jimmy Mills

QUESTION:

Trailing snapdragon hanging basket in yellow, flowers are turning brown all over the plant. Why? I water every day as told & fertilized once in 3 weeks. It was so beautiful.

ANSWER:

The name "Snapdragon" has been applied to numerous plants. I found nine different plants in our Native Plant Database that had "snapdragon" as part of their common name, and one was called Creeping snapdragon Maurandella antirrhiniflora (roving sailor). I used the term "trailing snapdragon" to search on Google and found two different plants; one, Antirrhinum majus is a native of the Mediterranean region, and the other, Asarina procumbens, is a native of Mexico. Our focus at the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center is on plants native to North America, so these two are outsde our area expertise.