Native Plants
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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Wednesday - July 18, 2012
From: Charlottesville, VA
Region: Mid-Atlantic
Topic: Groundcovers, Grasses or Grass-like
Title: Would Habiturf or buffalograss work in Charlottesville VA
Answered by: Barbara Medford
QUESTION:
Hello, I am looking for an alternative to traditional turf grasses. I stumbled upon some information on your site about buffalo grass and LBJWC's 'Habiturf' mix and would like to know if this would be feasible in Southern Virginia (2 sites) zones 6b and 7 with approximately 44" a rain a year. The soil is a clay loam. I can't seem to find any data that says that it would not survive, however I am also unable to find any definitive data that suggests that it will. If viable, I think it would be a great alternative. Any thoughts?ANSWER:
We get a lot of questions on the native grass mixes for Central Texas. Although this previous answer that we would like for you to read is from southeast Texas, it touches on the same points.
More Grasses or Grass-like Questions
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Need recommendations for native plants on a dry sunny hillside in Baltimore Maryland.
July 28, 2009 - Need native recommendations for sunny, dry hillside for ground cover or shrub in Maryland. Mowing the grass is a pain and an energy waster (and I don't want to be tempted to extend some adjacent exi...
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Mowing Bouteloua dactyloides (Buffalograss)
July 05, 2014 - Dear Mr or Ms Smarty Plants,
Although I see you have posted some information about mowing Buffalograss it doesn't seem to answer my question. Will it hurt to mow the buffalograss flags off? Will t...
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Grasses for Erosion control in Iowa
September 27, 2012 - We have a sloping yard in the midwest that gets 2-4 hours of sun during the warm weather. When we have large rainfalls, the water just pours down the slope causing a lot of erosion to the surrounding ...
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