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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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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!

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Wednesday - April 06, 2005

From: Mechelen Belgium, Other
Region: Other
Topic: Wildlife Gardens
Title: Wildlife habitat in Gambia
Answered by: Nan Hampton

QUESTION:

Thank you for the interesting website. We bought a plot in the Gambia and would like to change it into a habitat for different living species; hence, your kindly advise is welcome as we are definitely no experts. Thanks in advance for your time.

ANSWER:

We can offer some general suggestions for creating gardens for wildlife, but we can't offer specific suggestions for native plants in the Gambia. In the Native Plant Library on our Wildflower Center web page you will find several articles in PDF format pertaining to wildlife gardening: "Creating a Wildlife Garden", "Butterfly Gardening Resources", and "Wildlife Gardening Bibliography". You can read more suggestions from the Smithsonian Institution's National Zoological Park. There is also a British organization, "Space for Nature", with an informative web page titled Principles of Designing Gardens for Wildlife. To determine what sorts of plants to include in your garden, you could contact someone involved in horticulture in the Gambia. For a start you can consult the official web page of the Gambia and find in the "Directory", under Agricultural Services & Production, several companies that are involved with horticulture.
 

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