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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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!

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Sunday - October 31, 2010

From: Saco, ME
Region: Northeast
Topic: Septic Systems, Wildflowers
Title: Wildflowers for leach field in Maine
Answered by: Anne Bossart

QUESTION:

I am looking for a wildflower mix that would suitable to plant over a leach field. What plants should I look to avoid?

ANSWER:

Well, there is no point re-inventing the wheel.

One of our Associates in Ontario, Wildflower Farm ,has developed a wildflower seed mix especially for that purpose. Their mix of 18 different perennial wilflowers and grasses are all North American native plants and will thrive in your environment. They provide images and information about all the plants in the mix, but if you want more, you can "copy and paste" the plant names into our Native Plant Database.