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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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Thursday - June 10, 2010

From: Los Angeles, CA
Region: California
Topic: Plant Identification
Title: Plant identification
Answered by: Nan Hampton

QUESTION:

I have a tall leafy green plant growing in my garden. It has long flowering limbs that bear a pod that looks like a tiny green pepper. It then turns purple and falls off. The flower that remains is tiny with a magenta hue. I have no idea what it is. Can you help?

ANSWER:

Well, Mr. Smarty Plants loves to identify native plants; but it is difficult, if not impossible, to do with a description alone.  If you think it might be a North American native plant (our specialty), please send us photos and we will do our best to identify it for you.  Visit Mr. Smarty Plants' Plant Identification page to read the instructions for submitting photos.  If you suspect that it is NOT a North American native plant (not our specialty), you would be better off submitting your photos to the Plant Identification Forum on the UBC Botanical Garden site.
 

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