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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Saturday - April 17, 2010
From: Blackshire, OH
Region: Northeast
Topic: Plant Identification
Title: Mystery flower in Mesquite NY
Answered by: Barbara Medford
QUESTION:
My sister recently told me a story, that one day in the Mesquite, NV area she liked a white wildflower on the side of the road, so she went to smell it, and a car stopped and told her not to touch it, that it was very poisonous. Would you know of what flower it might have been? Or was he pulling her leg.ANSWER:
We pride ourselves on being very good plant detectives, but this is beyond us. We usually request a picture, and a much more complete description of the plant, area, season, etc. to even begin to identify a plant. Frankly, we think he was either pulling your sister's leg, or trying a new pickup line. We hate it when plants are used for such nefarious purposes.More Plant Identification Questions
Identity of mystery plant in non-native commercial forage mix
December 17, 2013 - Dear Smart One,
I use a commercially prepared, fortified, chopped forage based on a mix of orchard and Timothy grasses. The bags are shipped in from out of State. However, I have been finding short s...
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Identity of bulbs from digging in an anthole
June 13, 2012 - I was digging in an ant hole and it collapsed and as I dug it out, I found around 50 white bulbs that did not have a smell or roots. They resembled onion bulbs. I have a picture of these and they are...
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Identification of possible wild plums thickets
May 19, 2008 - I have several "thickets" of small shrub/bushes on my land that I hunt on. These small trees are usually 5-7 feet tall, always grow in thickets of ten to up to sixty or so bushes. They are always lo...
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Plant identification
July 01, 2013 - I picked a beautiful large red wildflower, & by the time I got home, the stem had turned "spikey" and dark black! Very ugly & a little scary as I had never heard of such a flower! Can you identify??
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Yellow-blossomed Shrub that Occurs in Arizona and Texas
May 08, 2012 - What is the name of the large shrubs you will see in Arizona with the bright yellow blossoms. They grow wild everywhere, and I also see them in the town.
Could you please tell me the name of them, s...
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