Native Plants
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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.
Did you know you can access the Native Plant Information Network with your web-enabled smartphone?
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 - January 14, 2009
From: Halifax, NS
Region: Canada
Topic: Green Roofs
Title: Best performing species on green roofs
Answered by: Dr. Mark Simmons and Joe Marcus
QUESTION:
Hello, I am a graduate student in Nova Scotia Canada studying native plant communities on green roofs. I have been reading about the native planted green roof at the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center and am interested to know how well the native plants performed and survived in your region of the world. Thank you, and great website!ANSWER:
We wish we could give you a more definitive answer, but it's still a bit too early. Right now we are still analyzing the data. There is considerable variation both among plant types and among roof types (i.e. a plant that does well on one roof type may do poorly on another). Although there are many exceptions, overall, as a guide, the grasses seem to do the best. The list can be found at http://www.wildflower.org/collections/collection.php?collection=greenroof_species
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June 12, 2011 - Dear Mr. Smarty Plants,
We have a small, homemade green roof with a 4" medium on our sunroom, which faces south, however, a portion is partially shaded a Sweet Gum tree. Native Iris cristata, phlox...
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November 23, 2008 - We are trying to set up a green roof system on our own. What do you suggest for soil? It seems the soils are proprietary and unavailable to individuals.
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Can you grow wildflowers on a Zoysia greenroof?
June 09, 2015 - I have a 700 square foot zoysia grass roof with irrigation on a pool cabana that I would like to sprinkle with wildflower seeds (bluebonnets, indian paintbrush etc) Is this possible? What is the best ...
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November 09, 2006 - I am looking for perennial roof gardens plants, sedum, hen and chickens, native plants. I am in zone six. They will have three inches of perilite, gravel, and compost. Can you give me a good local so...
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Supplies for green roof from Corpus Christi TX
March 02, 2013 - Where do you buy your expanded clay or shale, your decomposed granite and your rice husks for a green roof?
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