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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Sunday - April 15, 2012

From: Sydney, Australia
Region: Other
Topic: Non-Natives, Trees
Title: Irish Strawberry tree care from Sydney Australia
Answered by: Barbara Medford

QUESTION:

Hi I have an Irish Strawberry tree - AKA Arbutis Enedo. I have had it for a couple of years now, I have it planted in the ground quite healthy soil, I feed it Dynamic lifter (chicken manuare/pellet fertilizer) everything around it is going perfectly fine & looked after in the same way/same soil, it has hardly grown a few cms from original size, yellow leaves here & there, thin stem no folours it is grafted from a common nursery(the nursery don't know much about it). Any tips will be greatly appreciated.

ANSWER:

The Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center, home of Mr. Smarty Plants is dedicated to the growth, propagation and protection of plants native not only to North America but to the areas in which those plants grow naturally. Arbutus unedo (strawberry tree) is native to the Meditteranean region and western Europe. We do have a North American native of the genus Arbutus, Arbutus menziesii (Pacific madrone), the species is not the same. You can follow the link to our webpage on that plant, but that is about all the information we can offer you.

However, from Paghat's Garden, we found some more information on Arbutus unedo, strawberry tree. It is exciting to hear from Australia; we get questions from all over the world, which we enjoy but can seldom give them much help.