This newsletter provides updates on plants growing at Maypop Hill Nursery and discusses spring gardening tasks. Native azaleas are flowering, including pink Rhododendron canescens and yellow/orange varieties. Common spring chores include dealing with vines on oakleaf hydrangea, brambles, poison ivy, and floppy spiderwort stems. A partnership in Minnesota called Blue Thumb promotes using native plants and rain gardens to improve water quality over manicured lawns. The newsletter shows pictures of native plants at Maypop Hill including coral bean, blackeyed peas, white wild indigo, and insects like bees on spiderwort and fireflies.

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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 maypophill@gmail.com. Website: maypophill.com
The Maypop Hill Newsletter
The Maypop Hill Newsletter
April-May
2021
April is the orange-est month
as everyone can see.
The other months are jealous,
of this little showoff tree.
Maypop Hill's acidic, well-drained soil
makes it easy to grow native azaleas.
The pink one (Rhododendron canescens) is the first to flower, followed weeks later by
yellow/orange azaleas. This list of native azaleas is from Putting Nature First on Your Southern Land,
a free pdf on our website, maypophill.com.
Florida Azalea, Rhododendron austrinum, 6-12'; S-PS; B; W; yellow flowers
Honeysuckle Azalea, R. canescens, 8-16'; S-PS; B; W; pink
Oconee Azalea, R. flammeum, 6-8'; S-PS; B; W; orange-red
Swamp Azalea, R. viscosum, 5-7'; S-PS; B; W; white
White Azalea, R. oblongifolium, 2-5’; S-PS; B; W; white to pink
Others: R. alabamense, R. atlanticum, calendulaceum, carolinianum, colemanii,
cumberlandense, periclymenoides, prinophyllum, prunifolium
We often see a
painted bunting ►
at the bird feeder
in spring.
The colorful cutie
pie taps at the
window but we
don't let it in.
It also won't sit
still long enough to get a better photo.
Rhododendron austrinum

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Spring Garden Chores: Problem Plants
Solution to pesky
vines climbing all over an
 Oakleaf Hydrangea?
Location, location,
location.
Go back in time and
DON'T plant on a slope
where you can't stand
up straight to pull, chop,
hack, weedeat, prune,
much less push a
lawnmower.
Solution to handling prickly
stems on brambles? Gloves,
pine straw mulch to reduce hand
weeding, fencing for long
branches to clamber along.
Bird netting might also be a
good idea to keep feathered
friends from taking all the
Boysenberries.
Solution to
Poison Ivy?
Best removed
with gloved
hand pruning.
If itchy bumps
appear, we
apply Benadryl
Spray, not the
lotion.
Solution to floppy stems on Spiderwort
(Tradescantia virginiana)? There are two options.
The plant makes pretty blue flowers in early spring and
purplish evergreen foliage in winter. When the stems
grow long and
droopy, we cut
most of them
to the ground.
Sometimes,
we stick metal
trellises to
support a few
to see what
bees and
butterflies come
to sip nectar,
like the one on
one on page 4.

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https://bluethumb.org/raingardens/
https://bluethumb.org/raingardens/
Courtesy,
#Lawns2Legumesbwsr.state.mn.us/lawns-legumes-
#Lawns2Legumesbwsr.state.mn.us/lawns-legumes-
programYouryardcanBEEthechangeh p://bwsr.state.mn.us/l2l
�
programYouryardcanBEEthechangeh p://bwsr.state.mn.us/l2l
�
This group is doing
exactly that, in
Minnesota:
Blue Thumb -
Planting for
Clean Water®
is a public/private
partnership
promoting native
plants, raingardens,
shoreline
stabilization projects
and turf alternatives
to reduce runoff and
improve water
quality.
http://bwsr.state.mn.us/l2l
http://bwsr.state.mn.us/l2l
Lawns to Legumes
Whaat???
Why would a homeowner want to replace
a perfectly good manicured lawn with
native plants that “fix” nitrogen in the soil?
Does Maypop Hill have
beans, peas, other legumes
that make pod-like fruit?
Indeed, we do.
Manicured lawns?
Whaat? Us?
left: Coral Bean/Mamou
(Erythina herbacea)
middle: Blackeyed Peas
and green beans
right: bee on a White Wild Indigo
(Baptisia alba)

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Maypop Hill Nursery & Publications
4979 Spec Garig Rd., Norwood, LA
Betty & LJ Miley, specializing in native plants of the South
email: maypophill@gmail.com web: maypophill.com
Geaux native!
A good place to take
a pic of a bumblebee
 butt is a “swamp
leather flower.”
Supposedly a
wetland plant, this
one volunteered on
the highest, driest
spot on Maypop Hill.
Clematis crispa
A firefly, or
lightning bug,
usually eats
pollen or
nectar, not
mulberries
Bee
seeks
Spiderwort
pollen
Yes, if you put up a birdhouse,
they will come to nest, even on
your front porch.
Bugs and Birds
Hooray!
for dragonflies and
baby birds!
Copious rainfall
has produced copious
mosquitoes, gnats,
and other biting
no-see-ems
(midges). Now that
insect eating critters have
shown up, we've been
scratching less.