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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 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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Sunday - May 16, 2010

From: Rio Rico, AZ
Region: Southwest
Topic: Shrubs
Title: Evergreen flowering shrubs for AZ
Answered by: Damon Waitt

QUESTION:

I need to know about evergreen flowering shrubs no more than 3 to 4' height.

ANSWER:

Mr. Smarty plants would like to introduce you to the Recommended species list for Arizona. Go there and on the right side of the page you will see the Narrow Your Search feature. Select subshrub or shrub and click the narrow your search button to get a short list of "short" plants for Arizona. Here are few examples that you might consider:

Artemisia frigida (prairie sagewort)

Ceanothus greggii (desert ceanothus)

Dasylirion wheeleri (common sotol)

Krascheninnikovia lanata (winterfat)

Mahonia repens (creeping barberry)

Rhus ovata (sugar sumac)

Zinnia grandiflora (Rocky Mountain zinnia)

 

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