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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 - September 16, 2006

From: Dallas, TX
Region: Southwest
Topic: Wildflowers
Title: Getting started in gardening
Answered by: Nan Hampton

QUESTION:

Does the center publish any or several planting guides to help gardeners get started? I find it is overwhelming understanding where to start. I have some lake property in East Texas close to Athens. Is the best starting point to just sow seeds this fall? Thanks.

ANSWER:

Indeed, we do have planting guides. Please visit our Native Plant Library to find several articles that will help you begin your gardening experience with native plants: Landscaping with Native Plants, Wildflower Meadow Gardening, and Large Scale Wildflower Planting—to name a few of the articles.

You can see a Recommended Native Plant Species List for the Southwest with Texas species designated on the Regional Fastpacks page.

Also, there are recommendations for plants for Eastern Texas, Arkansas, Louisiana, and Eastern Oklahoma at PlantNative.

Our store, Wild Ideas, has several books for sale dealing with gardening with native plants in Texas.

Finally, you can visit the National Suppliers Directory to find nurseries and seed companies in your area that specialize in native plants.
 

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