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Two hundred crape myrtles planted
Published Tuesday, April 8, 2008
NATCHEZ — If the drive down St. Catherine Street looks a little greener than usual — it is.
On Tuesday afternoon, members of the Historic Natchez Foundation successfully planted 200 crape myrtle trees along the road.
The planting started at the Forks of the Road site and ended at Martin Luther King Jr. Road.
Program director for the Foundation, Mimi Miller said the new plantings were installed to beautify one of the main corridors into the city.
“They look wonderful,” she said.
Miller said the project was the brainchild of former Foundation President Darryl Grennell.
“The Sallie Ballard crape myrtle Project is meant to beautify our city,” Grennell said. “It’s great to see it coming together.”
Grennell said he introduced the project during his presidency with Foundation approximately one year ago.
Grennell said he was completely inspired by Sallie Ballard’s project in 2000 when she planted over 2,000 crape myrtles across Natchez.
“We received overwhelming support to make this possible,” he said.
Grennell said donations from Foundation members and volunteer workers made the project possible.
“For the first phase I think everything’s going well,” he said looking down the street at rows freshly planted trees.
Grennell said the trees, in addition to lining St. Catherine Street, also branched off onto side streets.
Grennell said the second phase of the project should have trees going north and south on MLK.
“It’s going to look wonderful,” he said.
Area residents also seemed pleased by the project.
“This is absolutely wonderful,” Margaret Byrd said.
Byrd’s house was one of several to receive new trees.
“It makes the city and the neighborhood look beautiful,” she said. “It’s great.”
Comments
Posted by scarlettohara (anonymous) on April 9, 2008 at 12:27 a.m. (Suggest removal)
KUDOS to this group!! Great Job!! We'll all be enjoying the benefits from your work for many years to come!!
Posted by NtzMom55 (anonymous) on April 9, 2008 at 2:10 a.m. (Suggest removal)
A great addition to Natchez, the Crape Myrtle capital of the South.
Posted by Mucasplug (anonymous) on April 9, 2008 at 6:19 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Now if Mimi would plant a sweet disposition in her personality we would really be moving forward.
Posted by GopherBaroque (anonymous) on April 9, 2008 at 6:58 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Now if someone will just do some cleaning and landscaping around the old truck scales area the entrance to Natchez from the north would look better also.
Posted by freedom42 (anonymous) on April 9, 2008 at 8:03 a.m. (Suggest removal)
It's on the list gopher - remember one step at a time. I just hope the homeowners who agreed to the crape myrtles in their neighborhood will remember to water them.
Posted by natchezaristocrat (anonymous) on April 9, 2008 at 8:16 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Mucusplug: Mimi has a WONDERFUL, and very sweet disposition. If it weren't for Mimi (and her husband, Ron) Natchez would not be anywhere close the historic city it is shaping into. Mimi and Ron have been the key in developing and implementing the restoration of many buildings in the historic areas and revitalizing downtown. Not to mention the tremendous amount of work they put into EVERY YEAR in order for us to have the Great Mississippi Balloon Race! Shame on you for using this site to put someone down. Especially someone who puts an endless amount of effort into our city and its progress.
Posted by OldGrandDad (anonymous) on April 9, 2008 at 8:31 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Congratulations to all involved. Thanks Darryl. This was a good idea.
Posted by NoWireHangers (anonymous) on April 9, 2008 at 8:43 a.m. (Suggest removal)
What a wonderful project! I love the crepe myrtles in
Natchez and 200 more around St. Catherine Street is a blessing! Thank you's to Ron and Mimi Miller and the Natchez Historic Foundation for their fabulous work! Ron and Mimi are two of the nicest people I know, they are people of high integrity, and if it were not for them,
Natchez would not be what it is today. We owe both of them a huge amount of gratitude for their kindness to the citizens of Natchez and for saving many many buildings in Natchez. Also, many thank you's to Darryl for all his hard work and efforts to make this crepe myrtle project happen!
Posted by ijohnson (anonymous) on April 9, 2008 at 9:58 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Great job guys!!!!! Great idea Darryl!!!!
I think this project is wondeful and I'm glad to read that it will continue down MLK Blvd. Hopefully, the committee driving this project will be able to get a lot of the citizens involved in planting and caring for the trees because they will be a beautiful addition to our community.
If the City is not going to do the watering, maybe some of the citizens or volunteers involved can "adopt" a tree and take care of it until it is established. I was a volunteer on a project like this about 10 years ago -- we planted oak trees. To ensure their survival, we adopted a tree that became our "baby" until it could stand on its own. It has been so rewarding to drive by and see "our" tree looking healthy and growing. The only problem we had was keeping the drunk motorists from mowing them down. *LOL*
I wonder what variety of crape myrtles were planted? Even though I am partial to the pink blooms, there is a cultivar called "Natchez" that has white blooms, red bark, and is mildew resistant. However, it grows to approx. 20-30 feet, which may be too large for the road mediums. We definitely would not want them to be butchered or hacked to death if they were under any power lines. *LOL* Personally, I don't believe in pruning crape myrtles by cropping their branches off at the base -- it distorts the tree and puts it under a lot of stress. I say leave them alone and let them grow and branch out into their natural habit.
Posted by OldGrandDad (anonymous) on April 9, 2008 at 10:12 a.m. (Suggest removal)
ijohnson, Thank you and amen. Myrtles are ruined when they are cropped down for whatever reason. They are not meant for heavy pruning and are best left to find their own natural shape. The Natchez myrtle gets large and does it fast. But dwarf varieties are also avaialble for spaces where large ones are not appropriate.
Posted by humorme (anonymous) on April 9, 2008 at 11:50 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Mimi Miller is one of the sweetest people ever and I don't like anybody! Nasty Mucusplug
Posted by overthehill60 (anonymous) on April 9, 2008 at 12:27 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Instead of planting trees why don't the Natchez Historic Foundation do some sand bagging!!!
Posted by Swapmeet (anonymous) on April 9, 2008 at 1:22 p.m. (Suggest removal)
lol overthehill60. Hopefully their roots will suck up some of the flood water. Seriously though, I'm glad they were planted because it does make it look better around town.
Posted by obamayamama (anonymous) on April 9, 2008 at 3:03 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Good, more trees for the burgulars to hide behind!
Posted by freedom42 (anonymous) on April 9, 2008 at 3:51 p.m. (Suggest removal)
I believe they are all Natchez Whites, and unfortunately it looks as though some have been planted under power lines, so you all know what that means.
Posted by grrbrts (anonymous) on April 9, 2008 at 9:02 p.m. (Suggest removal)
There are over 40 varieties of Crape Myrtles and grow to various heights. I wonder if the variety(ies), being planted, will ever grow as high, as the Powerlines are low? Something that should have been thought-out, beforehand, unlike some Magnolia Trees!
Posted by OldGrandDad (anonymous) on April 9, 2008 at 9:25 p.m. (Suggest removal)
It really doesn't matter if the wrong type trees were planted in some incorrect areas. That can be fixed, preferably by replanting and not by later heavy pruning. No public funds seem to have been used here and this was a private initiative by people trying to improve the town. Great work.
Posted by sammohon (anonymous) on April 9, 2008 at 10:16 p.m. (Suggest removal)
I too, must say that Mimi is personally a very nice person.
I also must congratulate Darryl and Mimi for pulling off something that seemed impossible, but will provide much towards enhancing the approaches to Natchez.
While I am still a Natchezian, I currently am living and working in Gulfport. The city has replanted the medians of Highway 90 with palms and live oaks to replace what was lost to Katrina and then some. I don't know how the plant material or installations were paid for, but I do know that the City of Gulfport planted the trees and regularly waters them via a water truck.
Posted by sammohon (anonymous) on April 9, 2008 at 10:17 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Oh...I almost forgot...isn't this the same "Hysterical Society" doing wonderful work that the naysayers always rail about...LOL.
Posted by ijohnson (anonymous) on April 10, 2008 at 1:38 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Yes, ((OldGrandDad)) dwarf varieties would be nice options for the narrow medians or areas where a driver's view may be obstructed by larger trees. However, I think the average crape myrtle that grows to approx. 10 -15 feet should work just fine for the majority of the planting.
In regards to watering the trees, I just had an idea pop into my head . . . let the County use the inmates who work as road crews to water them. That would be a good way for them to pay for their keep.
Posted by observer (anonymous) on April 10, 2008 at 11:07 a.m. (Suggest removal)
I'm proud of Darryl for getting this project done. Just a note, however: I think the county is responsible for the crape mrytles planted along the drive in front of Braden School. If so, someone needs to show them how to keep the little undergrowth around the bottom of the trunks trimmed back (suckers at the bottom) so that they remain trees and don't get scrubby looking. This is the big problem with these beautiful plants - people don't understand when and how to prune them. At least the city/county crews need to be taught how. For years the ones on the Bluff were pruned back to nubs, but at last they've allowed them to become what they were meant to be. Someone with this knowledge needs to get this going.
Posted by freedom42 (anonymous) on April 10, 2008 at 3:45 p.m. (Suggest removal)
The Adams County Master Gardeners held a workshop back in Jan./Feb. to teach people how to correctly trim Crape Myrtles. It was well advertised and had a good turn out of people. However, although the city crews were invited to come, none did. Guess they don't care to know how.
Posted by CitizenSane (anonymous) on April 12, 2008 at 8:55 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Kudos also to Sallie Ballard, who started this initiative 8 years ago!
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