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.
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.
rate this answer
Thursday - December 10, 2009
From: Summerdale, AL
Region: Southeast
Topic: Non-Natives, Plant Identification
Title: Bulb identification
Answered by: Nan Hampton
QUESTION:
My pinecone ginger (Zingiber zerumbet), my white ginger (Hedychium coronarium) and my cana lilly roots were all accidently put in the same box and now I can't tell which is which. Is there some sort of "guide to roots"?ANSWER:
The expertise and focus of the Wildflower Center are with plants native to North America. Of the three plants you name, Zingiber zerumbet (pinecone ginger) is native to southeast Asia and Hedychium coronarium (white ginger) is native to India. There are two cannas that are native to North America, Canna flaccida (bandanna of the Everglades) and Canna glauca (maraca amarilla); but I would guess you probably have Canna indica (Indian shot), native to tropical Central and South America or Canna x generalis (canna lily), a hybrid of C. indica and C. flaccida. Generally, we aren't able to help much with non-native plant questions, but perhaps we can offer some sources that can help you. You might try the International Bulb Society's Bulb Identification Clinic. You can take photos of your different bulbs and submit your photos and ask the experts there to identify which is which—or you can see photos of the bulbs of the pinecone ginger and white ginger at Buried Treasures. Click on "more details" by the plant's photo to find the photo of the bulb. If you figure out those two, then by process of elimination the other bulbs should be your canna bulbs. You can also Google "canna bulbs" and select "Images" and you will find that several photos appear.
More Non-Natives Questions
Planting non-native coastal bermudagrass in Portland TX
September 09, 2009 - How do you plant coastal grass?
view the full question and answer
Planting distance for non-native crepe myrtles in Lawton OK
June 14, 2009 - We just bought Tonto Crepe Myrtle trees. I was just curious how far away from the house we should plant them.
view the full question and answer
Color in non-native portulaca from Beach Haven NJ
July 21, 2011 - I bought a portulaca in a hanging basket and divided it up and planted it in my garden. It is doing ok..but I have almost entirely orange flowers..maybe two reds. I was hoping for multi-colored..red...
view the full question and answer
Pruning non-native razzmatazz rose from Canton MI
April 26, 2010 - I have 5 "hardy" rosebushes called "Razzamatazz" which are about 3 years old. I don't know how to prune them properly. I do cut the dead bloom back just before the "leaf of 5", which seems to...
view the full question and answer
Transplant shock of non-native Bougainvillea
May 22, 2008 - Well I bought two Bougainvilleas, the first one I transplanted is doing great, the second one not so good when I was taking it out of the original pot the root ball stayed in the pot but the plant wit...
view the full question and answer
| Support the Wildflower Center by Donating Online or Becoming a Member today. |