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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

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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Tuesday - July 14, 2009

From: Minneapolis, MN
Region: Midwest
Topic: Shrubs
Title: Want to identify a shrub with golden to orangish berries in Minneapolis MN.
Answered by: Jimmy Mills

QUESTION:

Tall shrub or maybe tree with small berries golden to orangish color. The berries are not in large clumps but more twos and threes. Leaves are opposite each other, smooth edges and sort of elliptical. Is it native? Is this invasive?

ANSWER:

Well the first thing we need to know is the name of the plant, and Mr. Smarty Plants has learned over the years that is very difficult, virtually impossibble even, to identify a plant from a written description such as this. My suggestion is to go to  Plant Identification on the "Ask Mr. Smarty Plants" page and follow the directions for taking and sending us a photo of your plant. Once we have a name, we can determine if it is a native plant and if it is invasive.
 

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