Bob, I ordered the following cannas on-line from Paradise Garden: Red King Humbert, Wyoming, Pretoria, Pink President, and City of Portland. For some reason, they didn't look exactly like the pictures to me, but perhaps because I'm a novice with these plants. Actually, I fell in love with the plant first, then quite by accident, and much to my suprise I noticed that I was getting hummers. Yes, the humming birds had no interest in the lovely large flowering ones, but stuck to the smaller long-throated flowers. (Note I said 'lovely' as apposed to gaudy-just MHO) Unfortunately, I wasn't smart enough last year to label what I pulled up, so I'm going to have to just plant them and see what comes up. I've posted the link below if you're interested, but I'm afraid to order more due to the large number of tubers you wind up with from just one at the end of the season. What are you growing this year? Janine Here is a link that might be useful: Paradise Garden

Ah, you western folk have all the good stuff, but I need to stop grousing and just move to Albuquerque like we planned

Here it is the link to my pictures http://photos.yahoo.com/brigitte00000

I asked the ornithologist/bander, Scott Weidensaul, if I could quote from his email(s) here and he had no problem with it. spedigrees: You might be interested in his website http://www.scottweidensaul.com/hummingbirds/ which has a wealth of information on the recent movement of western hummingbirds, like the rufous, which are now beginning to appear in the East and Southeast. It sounds like you may see more of them in the next few years. In regards to ruby-throated hummingbirds that may be late to migrate, and the concerns people have as to whether to keep feeders up, he says: "I agree, looking at your photos, that the bird you have is a ruby-throat, and likely a hatch-year male based on the throat stippling. Within any population you get some birds that are programmed at the genetic level to migrate exceptionally early, and others whose instinct is to stay north as late as possible. This one could be in the latter group, or he could have something physically wrong with him that's preventing migration. Impossible to say, even sometimes examining the bird in the hand. One thing to understand is that your feeder is not somehow preventing this bird from migrating -- after all, if that were the case, we'd have evening grosbeaks and purple finches all summer at our seed feeders. I strongly urge you not to try any fancy nectar mixes -- just stick with the normal 4:1 water/white table sugar mix you use in the summer. As in summer, this bird will find plenty of insects, which comprise 60-70 percent of hummer's normal diet; there are a lot of cold-hardy midges and such even on cold days. Don't waste money on Nekton, and for the sake of the bird's health, don't try "supplementing" nectar with things like fish food and other garbage that people sometimes add to the mix. It will get a balanced diet naturally. If you're concerned about the feeder freezing up, you can easily rig a heat lamp with a 150-watt PAR/38 outdoor flood lamp in a utility hood, positioned eight or so inches to the side and above the feeder. We use that setup a lot with western hummers like rufous, Allen's and calliope that are increasingly common in the East in late fall and winter. In all likelihood he'll move on, but if he doesn't (or, more likely if he stays, can't) there's sadly not a lot you can do for him. Rubythroats lack the ability of many western species to go into deep torpor at night, but they can take temps down into the low 20s and and upper teens, and are hardier than people realize. But I'd trust his instincts to kick in eventually -- and with a full fat load from tanking up at your feeder, he'll be able to fly roughly 600 miles nonstop in about 24 hours (the same distance and time span rubythroats cover crossing the Gulf of Mexico), which can get him quickly to a warmer environment. Quite a few are now overwintering in the Carolinas, so he may even be one of those hardy birds." This is a lot to add onto a Spring Migration thread but I hope some of you will be interested. Claire