Native Plants
Q. Who is Mr. Smarty Plants?
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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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Sunday - February 23, 2014
From: Dallas, TX
Region: Southwest
Topic: Propagation, Seeds and Seeding, Transplants, Wildflowers
Title: Starting wild plant seeds indoors from Dallas TX
Answered by: Barbara Medford
QUESTION:
Is it possible to start some Phlox drummondii or other native wild flower from seed indoors, and then transplant to my garden? If so, can you suggest some?ANSWER:
The first thing you want to be sure of, before you go to all that trouble, is whether the wildflower is native to where you are gardening. According to this USDA Plant Profile Map, Phlox drummondii (Annual phlox) is native as close to Dallas County as Denton County, so we feel relatively sure it would thrive when you transplant it to your garden.
We just finished answering a question on planting wildflower seeds indoors and then planting them outside. It has several research references that should help you and to save ourselves the trouble of typing all that information again, here is a link to that previous answer.
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