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 - August 15, 2007
From: Austin, TX
Region: Southwest
Topic: Non-Natives
Title: Disposal of non-native invasive clerodendron
Answered by: Nan Hampton
QUESTION:
What do you do about clerodendron that is spreading like wildfire. A friend gave me one plant before I was acquainted with invasives!!ANSWER:
There are several species of clerodendron or glorybower, Clerodendrum sp., and I'm not sure which one you have. None of them is native to the continental United States (there is one, Clerodendrum aculeatum, native to Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands). C. bungei (rose gloryblower) appeared on the Florida Exotic Pest Plant Council's 1999 List of Florida's Most Invasive Species as a Category II species ("Species that have shown a potential to disrupt native plant communities"). It has not appeared on subsequent Florida lists, however. C. chinense, (stickbush), C. japonicum (sweet Japanese glorybower), C. macrostegium (velvetleaf glorybower) and several other Clerodendrum species appear on the Hawaiian Ecosystems at Risk (HEAR) Project's "Alien species in Hawaii" list. No species of Clerodendrum appear in the TEXASINVASIVES.org database, but since it is aggressive it sounds like something you need and want to control. Even though Mr. SP doesn't know exactly which species you have, the advice is going to be the same. You need to cut down/dig up the plants and dispose of them safely. Then, you will need to be vigilant to remove new plants that appear.More Non-Natives Questions
Native and non-native Wandering Jew and Four o Clocks
October 10, 2005 - I am looking for information on 2 separate plants in my yard. The names that people have given me on what they are is as follows:
Wondering Jew
Four O'Clock
view the full question and answer
Strange produce from non-native lemon seed in Houma LA
April 03, 2010 - I grow a lemon tree from a seed. I grafted it from the same tree a year or so later. It is 15 years old and it only produce one year. The question is, the year it produce, the fruit was a pink grap...
view the full question and answer
How Can I Tell an Invasive Thistle from a Native
May 01, 2012 - Mr Smarty Plants,
I have some thistles coming up in my yard. I'd like to keep them if they are native, but not if they are invasive or non-native. How can I tell? My yard is a wild area in West Lak...
view the full question and answer
Could lilacs grow in Georgia?
April 27, 2010 - Hi Mr Smarty Pants,
First off, I want to commend you on your promotion of native plants. I am passionately anti-invasive plants (in fact, it was the subject of my master's thesis). That being said...
view the full question and answer
Freeze damage to my Norfolk Island Pine in Houston, TX
March 18, 2010 - Houston, Texas experienced a rare 3-day snow event this winter that allowed snow to stay on my 20 ft. Norfolk Pine, in the ground for over 10 yrs. Every branch is now brown with all dead foliage. I ha...
view the full question and answer
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