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.
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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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Wednesday - October 28, 2009
From: Temple, TX
Region: Southwest
Topic: Non-Natives
Title: Yellowing of non-native eggplant in Temple TX
Answered by: Barbara Medford
QUESTION:
I planted egg plants in my raised bed garden for the first time this season. The plants are healthy and have produced a number of beautiful small white fruit with purple accent (spots). However, the fruits have all turned yellow. Why? Is this something to do with soil?ANSWER:
The Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center is dedicated to the care, preservation and propagation of plants native not only to North America but to the area in which they are being grown. This includes very few of the fruits and vegetables you would ordinarily buy in a grocery store. Eggplant is believed to originate in China or possibly India, and has been extensively hybridized for hundreds of years, both of which put it out of our range of expertise. To give you a lead, we Googled on "growing eggplant" and got a number of websites, one of which is this site from Fine Gardening Growing Eggplants Successfully.More Non-Natives Questions
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August 17, 2012 - I live in central Memphis and have well-drained clay soil. I have converted much of the front yard from turf grass to beds of native plants, which survive our hot humid without supplemental watering e...
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Problems with non-native Bradford pear in Austin
May 16, 2009 - Hi,
I planted a Bradford Pear tree about five years ago, and half of it is not filling out with leaves very well. Then about a month I noticed leaves here or there curling brown and dying, and causin...
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Non-native ligustrum in non-native fescue in Medina TX
May 22, 2013 - Is there an effective way to kill baby ligustrums coming up in my fescue yard without harming the grass?
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Getting flowers to grow under non-native globe willow in Salt Lake City
June 12, 2010 - We have a globe willow in our back yard that is about 15 years old and cannot get any flowers to grow under it. Can you recommend what we need to do to treat the soil, and what type of flowers will gr...
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Plants for under non-native fruitless mullberry trees from Ft. Worth TX
June 28, 2012 - I live in Tarrant county, where summer droughts are the norm. I have a 150x50 foot swathe of mature "fruitless mulberry" trees, which create a very shady atmosphere. The soil is clay dominated, ro...
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