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.
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.
rate this answer
Monday - July 25, 2011
From: austin, TX
Region: Southwest
Topic: Non-Natives, Transplants
Title: Newly planted Burford Holly doing poorly in Austin, TX.
Answered by: Jimmy Mills
QUESTION:
About a month ago I bought dwarf burford holly. Now they have slowly started getting brown leaves that eventually fall off. Some of the plants have white spots on the ends. I usually check my plants everyday and keep the soil moist. Today I noticed instead of the usual dark green it's more of a faded green. I have sprayed them with fungicide twice, the most recent time two days ago. Thanks for you help.ANSWER:
Mr. Smarty Plants has a couple of questions for you; have you put your plant into the ground, or is it still in a pot? June and July generally are not good months to plant shrubs in Austin, and the continuing drought has made that even more true. Your plant could be suffering from transplant shock. This previous answer contains some useful information about this problem. If the plant is still in a pot, your need to take precautions to protect it from excess sun and heat. Black plastic posts can absorb enough heat from the sun that can damage the roots. I’ m curious about the use of fungicide.
Burford holly is not a native plant and therefore is not in our database. Here are two websites that can tell you more about this plant.
University of Arkansas
Homeandgardenideas.com
More Non-Natives Questions
Cross pollination of orange and crapemyrtle
November 05, 2007 - I have a crapemyrtle tree growing 3 feet from a navel orange tree. This summer a shoot grew from the ground 5 inches from the orange tree. The shoot looks just like the orange tree but the leaves were...
view the full question and answer
Non-native Lavender Problem in Austin, TX
July 05, 2012 - I am having a problem with two of my lavender plants and was hoping I could send a photo of each to get your opinion. I've been growing rosemary and lavender successfully for quite sometime and am aw...
view the full question and answer
Care for non-native Kalanchoe from Belton SC
December 23, 2012 - The leaves on a Kalanchoe that we bought from Logee's has leaves starting to curl. It has been this way since I bought it. It is in a south window, it's cold out so I put the plant inside. Besides c...
view the full question and answer
Care of non-native house plant
October 20, 2007 - I have bought a 7 foot bird of paradise indoor plant, and have a decorative pot to place it into. The plant will remain in its plastic pot, will have a liner inside decorative pot, and decorative moss...
view the full question and answer
Tall plant with bell-shaped upside-down white flowers
July 18, 2014 - 2 tall plants grew outside my suburban New York house in June, blossomed late June. They looked like giant asparagus stalks, and the flowers were white, bell shaped, upside down, look like fairy skirt...
view the full question and answer
| Support the Wildflower Center by Donating Online or Becoming a Member today. |