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.

Help us grow by giving to the Plant Database Fund or by becoming a member

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.

Search Smarty Plants

See a list of all Smarty Plants questions

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.

rate this answer

Not Yet Rated

Wednesday - April 13, 2011

From: Seneca, SC
Region: Southeast
Topic: Wildflowers
Title: Wildflowers blooming in upstate South Carolina from Seneca SC
Answered by: Barbara Medford

QUESTION:

When do most wildflowers bloom in upstate South Carolina?

ANSWER:

We found the most wonderful website, Native (and Naturalized) Plants of the Carolinas, which has a number of links to geologic areas of South Carolina, like The Mountains, The Piedmont, The Fall-Line Sandhills, The Coastal Plains, and the Maritime Strand. Since Geography has never been our best subject, while we know Seneca is in the Northwest corner of South Carolina, we don't know what constitutes "upstate" South Carolina. Each of the headings listed above has several links under it. If you can determine what part of the state you are looking for, you will get some information on the wildflowers there. Notice the phrase "and naturalized" in the title of that website. The Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center is dedicated to the growth, protection and propagation of flowers native not only to North America but to the areas in which those plants are being grown, so those "naturalized" wildflowers are not going to be in our Native Plant Database. We found another website from the South Carolina Botanical Gardens, which appears to have a number of wildflower trails and information. You might also contact the Oconee County Chamber of Commerce, which probably has information on when people should plan to visit to see the wildflowers. And be sure to contact the Oconee County Extension Office, as they should have a list of Spring-blooming wildflowers for your area.

Now, let's look at a way for you to get specific blooming times for herbaceous blooming plants native to South Carolina. Go first to our Recommended Species section, click on South Carolina on the map, which will give you a list of 134 plants native to South Carolina, On the sidebar on the right-hand side of the page, select "herb" (herbaceous blooming plant) under General Appearance, and March, April and May under Bloom Times. This will give you a list of 24 blooming plants; they will not all be growing in "upstate" South Carolina, but perhaps you will have picked up enough information from the other sources to know which of those plants grow in your area. By referring to the USDA Plant Database, we found the following four which grow in the vicinity of Seneca. There are others, that's just all we checked on. Follow each plant link to our webpage on that plant to learn what its growing conditions are, what kind of sun and soil moisture it needs, propagation and other information.

Aquilegia canadensis (Eastern red columbine) - blooms red, pink, yellow February to July

Asclepias tuberosa (Butterflyweed) - blooms orange, yellow May to September

Coreopsis lanceolata (Lanceleaf coreopsis) - blooms yellow April to June

Oenothera fruticosa (Narrowleaf evening-primrose) - blooms yellow April to July

From our Native Plant Image Gallery: