Re: [gardeners] In the garden - Wednesday
George Shirley (gardeners@globalgarden.com)
Wed, 27 Oct 1999 18:18:06 -0500
mlaute@micron.net wrote:
>
> At 08:37 AM 10/27/99 -0700, you wrote:
> >Good moring, George.
> >
> >Lovely narrative as usual. Could you please enlighten me as to what a mayhaw
> >tree is?
> >
> >Thanks
> >
> >Ron
> >
> Well, it may hem, or it may haw...but if you get may hem, the cops arrive.
> Now what happens if it may hee? Well it does that if you tickle the bark,
> right under the lower limbs. A may haw is a tree belly laugh.
>
> George, have you tried root pruning this malcontent? Margaret
Well, a mayhaw is a uniquely southern tree to the best of my knowledge.
Bears a reddish orange fruit about the size of quarter, maximum, in,
guess what, May. Folks down here make a nice jelly and sometimes wine
out of them. They're a bit astringent for eating out of hand. Far as I
know, and I haven't looked this up, they're a member of the haw family.
Guess I could do a web search and would probably find that Texas A & M
has information on them. They grow wild here and a number of people now
plant them in orchards and cultivate them for the fruit. There's a
company in Many, LA that makes the jelly and ships it around East Texas
and most of Louisiana. Starks, LA has a mayhaw festival every year with
jelly making contests, etc.
Nope, haven't tried root pruning them. Guess I could do that with the
machete rather than trying to whup 'em into bearing. How far out do you
go from the trunk for root pruning a fruit tree, anyone have any idea?
Would like for them to bear as I do like my mayhaw jelly but don't like
paying 3 to 5 bux for a pint jar.
George, home from getting the flu shot