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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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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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Saturday - July 28, 2012

From: Southwick, MA
Region: Northeast
Topic: Managing Roadsides, Plant Identification
Title: Identification of blue wildflower on roadsides in Massachusetts
Answered by: Nan Hampton

QUESTION:

What is the blue wildflower planted on roadsides and highways in Massachusetts?

ANSWER:

Since I'm a long way from Massachusetts (in Austin, TX), I'm at a bit of a disadvantage in naming the blue flowers along Massachusetts' roadways, but I have several suggestions:

  1. You can do a COMBINATION SEARCH in our Native Plant Database by choosing "Massachusetts" from Select State or Province, "Herb" from Habit (general appearance), "July" from Bloom Time and "Blue" from Bloom Color.  You can then look through the thumbnail photos on the list. 
  2. You could also browse the flowers by color on the Connecticut Botanical Society's Connecticut Wildflowers database.
  3. You could contact someone at New England Wild Flower Society in Framingham, MA.  They are very likely to know.
 

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