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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Smarty Plants Question Topics
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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| Native Groundcover for High Activity Location in Austin, TX October 01, 2010 Howdy! We live in South Austin and have a smallish backyard that we're perennially working on. We have two young, very active dogs that spend a lot of time RUNNING and we never can keep ground cover ... View Mr. Smarty Plants' Answer | ||
| Need evergreen hedge and groundcover for shade in Carmel, Indiana September 27, 2010 Our property is bounded by a fencerow that is wooded and mostly shaded by mulberry and hackberry trees during the growing months. We'd like to create a 5'+ tall evergreen barrier on the property li... View Mr. Smarty Plants' Answer | ||
| Fast growing groundcover for New York September 02, 2010 Dear Mr. Smarty Plants, I love your site! But I can't quite find this answer: can you recommend a fast-growing groundcover native to southern NY State (Dutchess County) that I can plant NOW (Augus... View Mr. Smarty Plants' Answer |  | |
| Low growing groundcovers for pond banks in Brookville PA July 30, 2010 What are some good low growing ground cover plants for pond banks? Zone 5, mostly sun, preferably something I could start from seed? Hopefully low maintenance & non-evergreen. Perennial & hardy pre... View Mr. Smarty Plants' Answer | ||
| Ground cover for heavy dog traffic in Huntsville TX July 23, 2010 We have recently moved to Huntsville, TX where our backyard is very shady and has only a small patch of St. Augustine grass and the rest is a dry, sand-like soil. We also have 2 Great Danes and 2 Pugs... View Mr. Smarty Plants' Answer | ||
| Ground cover for roadside in Elk Rapids MI July 13, 2010 Elk Rapids, MI (Lake Michigan, East Grand Traverse Bay) Greetings – We are looking for a native ground cover that will cover an area along a roadside, about 100 feet from the Lake Michigan shorelin... View Mr. Smarty Plants' Answer | ||
| Plants for difficult site in Jacksonville, TX July 07, 2010 East Texas (Cherokee County) red clay hillside, hard-packed, difficult to get to, 40' of it slopes 4' down in about 6'! Another 30' of it is flat. Between the hillside and the flat clay area is a... View Mr. Smarty Plants' Answer | ||
| Groundcover for area with impact from rain from roof June 25, 2010 The small garden on the side of my townhouse gets some hard rainfall during every storm. We've found ways of redirecting and using much of the rainfall (gutter and downspout to rain barrel, permeable... View Mr. Smarty Plants' Answer | ||
| Pet-friendly plants for ground cover in Bastrop TX June 21, 2010 Any pet-friendly plants that can be used for ground-cover in Central Texas? View Mr. Smarty Plants' Answer | ||
| Plants for pool area in Kentucky June 12, 2010 We live in central Kentucky and have a backyard pool that desperately needs some landscaping. I would like plants that don't drop a lot of leaves or "trash". I'd like a list of great poolside pl... View Mr. Smarty Plants' Answer | ||
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