Maypop

Size, growth and what to expect

Maypop grows fast, and its vines reach 6 to 25 feet long. One vine spreads 3 to 6 feet, and its root suckers carry it well beyond that. In a New York trial, first-season vines flowered all summer, and fruit set before mid-August ripened in 52 to 113 days.

The flowers, about 3 inches across, open from May into September, white or pale lavender under a fringe of purple and white filaments. Carpenter bees carry the pollen. The fruits, the size of a hen's egg, ripen yellowish from July into October, and the pulp around the seeds is eaten fresh or made into jelly. Its leaves feed Gulf fritillary, variegated fritillary and zebra longwing caterpillars, and songbirds and small mammals eat the fruit.

It grows wild across the Southeast, north to Pennsylvania, Ohio, Illinois and Kansas and west to Oklahoma and Texas. Its home is old fields, fence rows, thickets, roadsides and open woods, often on poor soil. In Delaware and Maryland it is considered introduced.

How to grow Maypop

Maypop flowers and fruits best in full sun, with at least half a day of direct sun, and it grows in part shade. It takes average, well-drained soil, sandy or clay, and once rooted it rides out drought. Wet, poorly drained ground rots its roots in winter. Give it a fence, trellis or arbor to climb, and set its support 3 feet from a wall. Near the north end of its range, a spot sheltered by a wall or building helps it through hard winters. Set vines 12 feet apart. It burns readily, so where wildfire is a risk keep it out of the planting zone next to a house. Keep it 15 feet from overhead wires, since it can climb past 20 feet.

Saplings ship bare-root or potted. Plant them dormant, from leaf fall until bud swell, in a hole wider than the roots and no deeper. Set the crown at the soil line, put the native soil back in, and keep the mulch clear of the stems. Wash the seed clean of its pulp, since washed seed sprouts best. Sow it outdoors in late spring, once the soil is warm, and cover it, since light holds it back. It sprouts slowly and unevenly, often at low rates.

Water it every day for the first two weeks after planting, then every two to three days until week 12. After that, water weekly through the first two summers in dry spells. A loose mulch keeps the roots cool. For a bushier vine, pinch the shoots back in its first summer. Pull the root suckers that come up beyond its spot, or it spreads well past its support.

Each flower carries both male and female parts, but a vine sets no fruit with its own pollen, and its suckers are the same plant. Plant two or more seedlings from different parents for fruit. The fruit is ripe two to three months after the flower opens, when it turns soft and yellowish and the seeds inside are brown. It has no serious pests or diseases, though phlox plant bugs and barnacle scale sometimes turn up, and deer browse it only moderately. The leaves and stems are poisonous if eaten.