Good land use preserves natural habitats.

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September
2014
An occasional report on what’s growing at Maypop Hill Nursery
and the Miley homestead in Norwood, Louisiana;
to subscribe to the free newsletter, contact us by
email: maypophill@wildblue.net web: maypophill.com
Do not go where the path may lead, go instead where there is no path and leave a trail. ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson
It’s the time of year to harvest seeds of many plants, including partridge pea, Silver-bell, coneflowers, and many other wildflowers and trees. If you would like to collect seeds,
bring some Ziploc bags and a marker to identify what you have picked.
If you need some horse manure to make compost tea, bring your own bucket and help yourself!
This will be very informal and last-minute.
If you're interested please reply to me at bvmiley@wildblue.net
9:00 am: walk the paths and explore Maypop Hill’s 28 acres: woodlands, a horse pasture,
a prairie in its infancy, a creek, and a pond. Pants and boots or walking shoes are recommended, as well as insect repellent and a pocket-sized rain poncho. Our own landscaping is on the overgrown side, since we wait for seeds to set and volunteer seedlings to be relocated.
Noon: simple lunch which I'll provide,
1:00 pm: car pool/caravan to the arboretum in Gloster, Mississippi.
Maypop Hill is ~ 1 hour north of Baton Rouge, via Hwy. 19
- 2 miles north of Norwood
- Right on Spec Garig Rd, then 2 more miles (east)
- Turn right at 3 mailboxes on one post
- and follow signs all the way back to an A-frame house on top of the hill.
- Park at the hitching post or along the driveway.
The arboretum is another ~20 minutes northeast
Links:
http://www.maypophill.com/contact-us.php (Google map and physical address)
http://www.glosterarboretum.org/contact.html (map to arboretum)
I hope to see some of you Sunday, while we still have leaves and
flowers to look at!

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Linda Auld,
the Bug Lady, is leading a project to “grow” Monarch butterflies in New Orleans schoolyards sent us this information.
When you visit the Gloster Arboretum, be sure to walk all three wildflower patches.
1) located in the meadow behind the main house....on the left side of the road leading to Stadther's Hill. It is the newest and contains mostly cosmos and zinnias [native to Mexico and Southwestern US] 2) located on the left side of the road at top of Stadther's Hill This one is the oldest and has a better mix. On our last visit we saw Monarda (mints), coneflowers, phlox, rattlesnake master, slender mountain mint, and yellow flowering indigo. 3) located on the right side of the road near the powerline loop and the "back 40" section. Second oldest and FULL OF GOATWEED! My kind of garden!

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Linda also reports that she saw “many rolled leaves filled with adorable Goatweed Butterfly caterpillars.” They are pretty cute!
My favorite spot is at the creekbed. There is a beech tree atop the sandy embankment that has wooly aphids and a Harvester butterfly
colony. Check the ground below the tree for blackish looking spots on the
sand. Then look above them for the infected branch to see the wooly aphids “wag their butts.”
If you stand beneath it, honeydew will rain down on you.
If you see a lump under the aphids, you will see the Harvester caterpillar nestled below them