Native Plants
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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.
Did you know you can access the Native Plant Information Network with your web-enabled smartphone?
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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Wednesday - June 25, 2008
From: Austin, TX
Region: Southwest
Topic: Non-Natives, Container Gardens, Trees
Title: Disappearing oranges from Satsuma orange in Austin
Answered by: Barbara Medford
QUESTION:
I had many tiny future oranges on my Satsuma Orange Tree until a few days ago. Suddenly, all were gone except one. They weren't on the ground and the tree itself seems incredibly healthy. It is grown in a very large container in sunniest spot in my yard. Do you know what may have happened to all my oranges?ANSWER:
Sudden fruit drop on an otherwise healthy tree would result in fruit lying on the ground. Animal nibbling would result in nibbled fruit on the ground. One orange left when all the others are gone is a clue. Conclusion of this amateur sleuth: someone has scarpered with your little oranges. It's hard to imagine why-they can't possibly have been big enough to use in a salad, they're not ready to be harvested for seeds, and they are not anything a pawn broker would be interested in. Possibly they are being used for a table decoration, or maybe there was a scavenger hunt for which miniature oranges earned extra points. This is a very sad commentary, if true, on ignoring property rights or abusing an attempt to beautify the area. We found nothing in our research that indicated Satsuma oranges ever spontaneously evaporated.
More Non-Natives Questions
Return to original color of non-native crape myrtles in Henderson, TX
July 17, 2009 - Mr. Smarty Plants,
I bought 3 Dynamite Crape Myrtles that were about 3 -4 feet tall (at Lowe's). In the late Spring, I planted 2 of them about 100 feet apart, in full sun, and left the other one in...
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Plants not native to North America in Hawaii
February 18, 2009 - Do not know if you have any experience for Hawaii but here it goes. I live on Maui and have some coco palms, a line of 12, two of them right next to each other (15-20 ft). They are a decent shade of ...
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How to produce ivy with large, green leaves
May 25, 2007 - How can I keep an Ivy green? When it was purchased it was green and had BIG leaves. How can I get the leaves to grow big again and get it green?
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Suckers on non-native Mayten tree
April 26, 2009 - We have a Meyten tree that has lots of suckers coming up from the roots. We would like to keep the tree, but if we can't find a way to control the suckers, we are considering taking it out. Any sugg...
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Decline in non-native crape myrtles
June 15, 2007 - I live in Round Rock and the ground is rocky about one foot beneath the surface. I have about 14 crape myrtles that have been doing very well for about 6 years now. Last year the leaves on 1 started...
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