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 - July 16, 2008
From: Jeffrey, WV
Region: Mid-Atlantic
Topic: User Comments
Title: Why is Mr. Smarty Plants website so useless?
Answered by: Barbara Medford
QUESTION:
Why is your site so useless?ANSWER:
We are truly sorry that you find our site of no use to you. The volunteers and staff members at the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center are constantly searching for new ways to make information on plants native to North America available to anyone who goes onsite. We also have access to information on invasives and other matters of importance to the environment. Perhaps if you detailed for us how you attempted to use the site and how it failed for you, we can make improvements. But the question you asked is a plurium interrogationum such as "are you still beating your wife?" If we answer it, it presupposes that the Mr. Smarty Plants website is, in fact, useless. By the way, the majority of the questions are answered by two volunteers, each of whom puts in an average of 20 hours a week, unpaid, of course, to try and help anyone interested in plants and how they impact the world we live in. Since I am one of those volunteers, I guess we can't offer to give you your money back.More User Comments Questions
Foxglove (Digitalis purpurea)
July 02, 2014 - Foxglove (digitalis purpurea) is not a native U.S. plant. It was introduced to the U.S. from Europe and is now considered invasive in many parts of the western U.S. It invades our forested wild land...
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Texas bluebonnets for Illinois
March 12, 2008 - Thank you Mr. Smarty Plants. I will be closely checking the variety of Texas bluebonnets that I tried to plant. For the record, I did soak them first to loosen the seed shell. I think we probably just...
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Oyster Shell source in Austin
September 18, 2015 - Hi, I was not sure who to reach out to, but I work for Quality Seafood here in Austin, and we have several gardeners who take our old oyster shells and grind them up or put them in their gardens for ...
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Recommended Species List for Nova Scotia.
October 12, 2015 - Hi, I love your site. I am from Nova Scotia and run an "Invasive Plants Cape Breton" facebook page and also "Cape Breton Garden and Botany Lovers". Was dismayed to find no recommended plants for...
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Plant database correct!
June 27, 2008 - Wrong taxonomy for bald cypress tree family in your plant database?
view the full question and answer
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