The Watering Can - January 2026

We came to visit family for a week or so this January, and part of the trip was spent at the Landry Property. I was looking forward to checking in on all of the plants and seeing how things have done in the fifteen or so months since we left, but unfortunately there wasn't much to check on. Nearly everything I'd planted over the 2.5 years we lived here has been cut down or ripped out.

It's hard to imagine why, and I don't really feel like asking because I don't know that there will be a satisfactory answer, other than a vague "cleaning things up" or making it easier to do the constant mowing of the lawn.

It won't be very fun, but let's see where things are now.

Red Mulberries (Morus rubra)

The Mulberries had a pretty great year, even with some seemingly out-of-season visits from the webworms.

Mulberry 1 is gone. I guess to make it a tiny bit easier to mow the lawn. It did struggle a bit in the deep clay soil of this part of the yard, at least compared to its "sibling" a little closer to the house with some better soil. So maybe it didn't survive the summer. Maybe it just didn't look as good. Who knows.

Mulberry 2 has been allowed to stay, I guess because it's right out of the kitchen window and can be used for seasonal decorations and holding hummingbird feeders. It looks like it's growing very well, with a nice thick trunk and some big branches growing strong. I hope it's allowed to continue doing its thing. It shouldn't ever get big enough that they'll think it's starting to threaten the house.

Mulberry 3, shockingly, is still in the driveway circle. It's about half-buried in mulch right now, and looks like it's still getting nibbled on consistently by the deer, but it's still alive. I don't imagine it will last much longer, but it's being tended to a little bit so far, so I suppose it has a chance.

Black Willows (Salix nigra)

Willow 1 is standing tall. The prize of my plant work while I was here, it has not only been left standing but it's still being mulched and protected fairly well there at the edge of the pond. It must be close to 15 feet tall now, and is looking like a proper young tree. The low branches are probably being "pruned" pretty regularly by the deer, but otherwise it seems to be doing very well. I am very, very proud of this tree and was so happy to see it still there.

Willow 2 has been removed. I don't know if it just couldn't live on in its state of leaning over, or if it was just deemed unnecessary, but there is no trace of it now.

I couldn't find little Willow 4 in the Old Pond area, but it may have been there. The deer have probably hit it pretty hard, but in general the area has been left to grow wild, which was nice to see.

Common Pawpaw (Asimina triloba)

Pawpaw 2 is gone. No telling if it survived any further than expected, but there's no trace of it. Thankful for the one fruit I got to eat from it.

Eastern Redcedar (Juniperus virginiana)

Gone; likely cleared out when they took down the surrounding Loblolly pines.

Red Maples (Acer rubrum)

If they started to come back after the last time they were cut down, they are gone now.

Mayhaws (Crataegus aestivalis)

Gone. No idea why. They were clearly planted, easy to mow around, and growing pretty well.

Aquatic Milkweed (Asclepias perennis) and the Old Pond Area

Much to my surprise, the Old Pond area has been left to grow wild. It might benefit mostly from being "out of sight, out of mind" from the main house, but also the entire reason I initially marked it with tape was because it stays so wet that it's hard to mow it. So there was still evidence of the large beak-sedges growing, plenty of long grass, and lo and behold...

The Aquatic Milkweed, at least one that I could see, was still growing and seemingly doing very well tucked into its place in the long grass. I found a stem with pretty fresh leaves, and I think I found another stem growing though it seemed like it had maybe been eaten back by caterpillars or otherwise. But it was very nice to find this little guy still doing its thing, and hopefully it has and will spread around in this area as long as it's left undisturbed.

Black Elderberry (Sambucus canadensis)

The Oklahoma John Elderberry is still standing undisturbed (other than being chewed on by the deer), but it is very dead. Not sure why it struggled so much in this spot, other than it possibly being a cultivar that just couldn't hand the heat and humidity of south Louisiana.

The Ranch Elderberry appears to be completely gone.

South Meadow

Being winter, it was hard to tell exactly how the South Meadow plants were doing. It does look like the area has mostly been left alone and not mowed, so there may be some things still blooming in the warmer part of the year.

The area has been invaded a bit by beefsteak plant, but maybe the Stokes' aster, purple coneflower, and others are in there doing their thing.

Buttonbushes (Cephalanthus occidentalis)

From a distance, it looked like both of the Buttonbushes were gone, which was particularly devastating. They were thriving there at the edge of the pond, and probably would be huge by now after another summer of growth. They didn't seem to be in the way of anything, and wouldn't have required any maintenance. I can only guess they looked "messy" in the winter and got ripped out because of it.

Upon closer inspection, they are hanging in there! At least for now.

Buttonbush 1 was clearly cut down to the ground, with its two main stalks showing evidence of being lopped off. But there is new growth — little shrubby growth, but it's there. It's a shame, thinking of how large it was and probably would be by now, and would probably bloom all summer, but there it is. Not dead yet!

Buttonbush 2 is actually doing even better than its sibling! It was clearly cut back too, but it has a good bit of new growth and maybe even some evidence that it bloomed this year, though that's hard to say. It does look like it's been nibbled on by the deer, but maybe it's juuuust far enough away that it gets forgotten about and left alone, hidden by the cypress trees. But it's there and doing its thing for now. Who knows how much longer it will hang in there, but I was thrilled to see that it was still alive.

Titi (Cyrilla racemiflora)

Gone, except for what appears to be a brutalized main stem.

Along with the Buttonbush, I don't know why this one would have been removed other than looking "messy" in the winter. It was doing pretty fine on the edge of the pond.

Swamp Sunflower (Helianthus angustifolius)

No evidence of the Swamp Sunflowers, that I could see.

Beautyberries

The transplanted beautyberries in the driveway circle were not spared after all. Gone.

Reflections

It was a good experiment, and I learned a lot, but ultimately the people who live here didn't really care for or about my efforts and so the fate of the plants was probably always doomed. I'm glad a few things have survived to this point, though, and it's a good encouragement for me to start growing things back in Oregon and start a new era of the Watering Can this spring.