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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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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.

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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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Saturday - June 19, 2010

From: Langley, BC
Region: Canada
Topic: Plant Identification
Title: Plant Identification
Answered by: Nan Hampton

QUESTION:

Hi there. I have a plant in my garden I'm trying to identify. It started out looking like a cabbage but now is huge, It has a large stalk going up the middle with purple bell looking flowers coming down it, there are several other stalk shooting out of it as well with flowers growing down the stem. The largest stem in the middle has grown to about 6 feet tall. What is this?

ANSWER:

Our focus and expertise here at the Wildflower Center are with plants native to North America.  From its description your plant doesn't sound too much like a North American native, but it could be, and Mr. Smarty Plants loves to identify plants.  However, it is very difficult—if not impossible—to do so from a description alone; but, if you will send us photos of the plant we will do our best to identify it.  Please visit Mr. Smarty Plants' Plant Identification page to read instructions for submitting photos. 
 

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