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.

Help us grow by giving to the Plant Database Fund or by becoming a member

Did you know you can access the Native Plant Information Network with your web-enabled smartphone?

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.

Search Smarty Plants

See a list of all Smarty Plants questions

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!

Need help with plant identification, visit the plant identification page.

rate this answer

Not Yet Rated

Thursday - August 06, 2015

From: Danvers, MA
Region: Northeast
Topic: Pests, Herbs/Forbs
Title: Pest Dug Up and Ate Hypoxis Corms
Answered by: Anne Van Nest

QUESTION:

After years of no problems, something recently dug up and ate all my Yellow star-grass corms. What is attracted to them and is there an organic way to prevent it?

ANSWER:

Yellow star-grass (Hypoxis hirsuta) is also known as common goldstar and is a low, tufted, grass-like perennial that grows 3-8 in. tall from a hard, hairy corm. The hairy, grass-like leaves originate from the base of the plant. Slender, thread-like flowering stems may be erect or reclining. They carry 3/4 in., star-shaped, yellow flowers below the top of the leaves.

The Illinoiswildflowers.info website has a note that some small rodents do occasionally eat the corms. Perhaps their usual foods were scarce. You can try to protect future corms from predators by creating a chicken wire, window screening or hardware cloth cage for the bulbs that is buried below the soil surface. The New York Botanical Gardens has several more tips for gardeners who have bulbs go missing including: placing a handful of sharp grit in the planting holes, cover the area with bird netting, or building a mesh or wire cage 1/2" hardware cloth for the bottom and sides and larger chicken wire for the top.

From the Image Gallery

Common goldstar
Hypoxis hirsuta