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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 is a free service provided by the staff and volunteers at the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center.

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Thursday - January 21, 2010

From: Madison, GA
Region: Southeast
Topic: Wildflowers
Title: Establishing a wildflower meadow in Madison GA
Answered by: Barbara Medford

QUESTION:

Can a wildflower meadow be established by seeding in a sunny pasture without removing all existing vegetation, just mowing low and slightly loosening soil with the teeth on a front end loader?

ANSWER:

We are always excited by plans to establish a wildflower meadow, and we have two articles written by experts from the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center that will help you more than we could. The first is A Guide to Native Plant Gardening which has a section on "Soil Preparation," referenced in the second article, Meadow Gardening. Both of these articles refer to Central Texas, because that is where we are located, but the principles are the same, regardless of where you are gardening.

 

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