Native Plants
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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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Saturday - July 23, 2011
From: Dallas, TX
Region: Southwest
Topic: Managing Roadsides, Wildflowers
Title: Planting wildflowers on roadsides in Dallas
Answered by: Barbara Medford
QUESTION:
Am interested in leading Y Princess group in community effort to plant wildflowers along roads in Dallas area. Do you have any advice on how to approach the problem or sources for the seeds?ANSWER:
We're happy to say we can give you all kinds of help, and appreciate your contributing to a community effort to involve young people in beautifying roadsides. Here are several How-To articles on Large Scale Wildflower Planting:
Next, to the sources for the seeds. You do know that you should plant only seeds native to your area. Dallas County is considered to be in the Blackland Prairie section of North Central Texas. There is a company called Native American Seeds, which not only carries seeds native to Texas, but has wildflower mixes specific to ecoregions in Texas. They have seeds available for 45 Texas wildflowers, but they also have mixes like Texas-Oklahoma Roadside Mix, Comanche Mix, Blackland Prairie Mix and Native Texas Mix, all of which should do well in your part of the state. The website has information about all the plants they have seeds for, planting suggestions and coverage.
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March 20, 2004 - I’d like to plant some wildflowers as part of a community or roadside project. Will you provide the seeds or grant money?
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April 09, 2013 - Is there any law or regulation at the state level that prohibits, or at least discourages, mowing or spraying herbicide on the highway roadsides before the wildflowers have set seeds or did we lose th...
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