Maypop Hill Newsletter

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An occasional report of what’s growing at Maypop Hill Nursery and the Miley homestead in
An occasional report of what’s growing at Maypop Hill Nursery and the Miley homestead in
Norwood, LA; to subscribe to the free newsletter, contact us by email:
Norwood, LA; to subscribe to the free newsletter, contact us by email: maypophill@gmail.com
maypophill@gmail.com.
.
Website:
Website: maypophill.com
maypophill.com
The Maypop Hill
The Maypop Hill
Newsletter
Newsletter
March 2024
March 2024
Spring Is Springing
Spring Is Springing
It Time to Prune the Prairie? to Mow the Meadow? to Burn the Brushpiles?
Let's check the signs that tell us when to clean up:
https://xe
https://xe
rces.org/l
rces.org/l
eave-the-
eave-the-
leaves
leaves
The tiny Bluets are blooming.
So is the Kieffer Pear. But very few insects
are showing up so far in early spring
We generally wait until we see lots of bees
lots of bees
and butterflies and other pollinators
emerging from their winter habitats --
 piles of dried leaves of oak & other trees
 rodent burrows and holes and
tunnels in the ground
 hollow stems of plants
A well-known authority on when garden cleanup can
begin is the pecan tree.
So far, the leaves say “nope” - “hold your horses” - and
“wait” for daytime temps that are reliably over 50 F for a week.
In Louisiana and much of the South, that could be from
mid-March to mid-April. no problemo. We can wait.
By then, Maypop Hill insects will likely be out and about and
pollinating plants and and feeding baby birds.
Mowing will be done selectively. Water oaks and other
unwanted saplings will be cut down. Burning? no.
Many native bees & fireflies may still be nesting in leaf litter or in holes an inch or two underground.
What About Curb Appeal?
In your average neighborhood,
people take pride in their
manicured yards.
Maypopians do keep
the driveway neat and tidy, as well
as other places where we meander.
But on the small prairie and
woodlands, local wildlife decide
how they will “manicure” the property
☹  ✂ with their teeth.
In fact, they seem to find our landscape quite tasteful.

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Prune, we must!
Prune, we must!
because if we don't, fruit trees and wildflowers
will grow too tall, too lanky, too rambunctious.
Devilwood/Wild Olive, Osmanthus americanus
Yellow azalea, Rhododendron austrinum
What else needs a vegetative haircut?
Lots of other woody plants. When we cut an ailing native
yellow azalea years ago, to the ground, it came back the
next year and doubled or tripled in size. And it flowered like
crazy. So did the Devilwood next to it, which had to be
pruned after some digging critters (dogs) destroyed much
of the root system.
Elderberries pop up everywhere. All it took
was for one bird or squirrel to gift us a seed
from fruit that it ate and then “recycled” here,
just as Nature intended. Like other fruit trees,
they need an annual pruning. We only allow a
few to grow, as they can wear out their
welcome.
Just wait 'til thAT
big bully privet
on the back driveway
gets a big
heave-HO with
our cordless pruners!!!
2024 might see a bumper crop of
blackberries. We see lots of plots
of white flowers everywhere We'll
let some grow and see who gets
to them first, us or the birds
We cut down tall fall wildflowers
like Ironweed (Vernonia species)
in early spring. Where we want
them not-so-tall,
we prune in June.

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Got a Guild?
After years of trial and lots of errors, we're still learning about this idea, which is a Permaculture land use
design that groups plants that work well together. Unfortunately, a late freeze last year wiped out our crop
of blueberries in the side yard orchard and in the sidewalk guild next to the house.
After one persistent elderberry tree decided it would take up residence next to the sidewalk, we decided
to prune it severely and make it part of the guild.
Sambucus nigra (probably sub-species canadensis) has many uses – its flowers attract bees and
butterflies, and its black fruit feeds many birds and can be cooked into pies, jellies, wine.
Its foliage and other parts, interestingly and oddly, are poisonous and repel insect pests and rodents.
First, there were 3
We planted three wild
strawberries
(Fragaria virginiana)
in the guild.
Then there were 2.
and a hole.
Now there are
2 strawberries
and
1 volunteer
blackberry
The blueberry guild
is also being
updated to allow
for a few new plants:
* Spiderwort, to ”fix”
soil nitrogen
* Native mints
(Pycnanthemum or Monarda)
will be added to repel
mosquitoes, moles, rodents,
deer (in theory)
* Wild onion (Allium
canadense) another pest-
repelling companion plant)
A fiery skipper butterfly
and a firefly hang out on a
Mountain Mint
(Pycnanthemum muticum)
Seriously, another hole?
a turtle
making a
nest?
A dog
burying a
bone?
an
armadillo
snacking
on fire
ants? 

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Maypop Hill Nursery & Publications
4979 Spec Garig Rd., Norwood, LA
Betty & LJ Miley, specializing in native plants
of the Southeast
email: maypophill@gmail.com
web: maypophill.com
Geaux native!
Two often requested recipes
1. Elderberry elixirs and syrups
are reputed to be powerful medicinals to
fight colds and viruses.
For syrup, boil 1 cup fresh or ½ cup dried
(ripe) elderberries in 3 cups of water.
Mash berries, strain pulp to be added to a
compost pile.
Cool the liquid and stir in 1 cup of honey.
Elixirs usually call for brandy as a
preservative
Fire Ants – a half cup of Dawn dish
detergent in one gallon of water. A few
tablespoons of orange oil or other d-
limonene product can be added to break
down the ants' exoskeletons and cause
them to suffocate.
The only good garden bunny
is a
concrete
bunny!
The 2023 drought seems to have wiped
out the normally exuberant butterweeds
we usually see in the back yard.
Besides adding a cheerful color to wet
ditches, Packera glabella feeds bees and
other insects and a particular small animal
that feeds on dead vegetation.
This “detrivore” is commonly known as a
crawfish.
https://lucec.loyno.edu/natural-
history-writings/yellow-spring-3-
butterweed-packera-glabella
What's growing in the pot garden? Egyptian Walking Onions, a Boysenberry,
carrots, a volunteer passionflower/maypop, garlic. Two pots are empty, waiting for
plants that will need fencing or other protection from the wonderful wildlife that enjoy
our guilds, orchards, wildflowers, and even the bird seed.