would you be interested in trading the entire plant? I have named daylilys. Also, i'm looking for any other hummingbird magnet plants I don't have, agastaches, salvias, etc... thanks

My apologies - I forgot which forum I was on (blush!) I meant to ask the question on the Hummingbird Forum, which discusses plants like this which are favorites of the hummies. Of course, after buying 13 new dahlias yesterday at a sale, I guess my mind was half here on the dahlia forum :-) LindaSkyview

I grow both of these along with many others. The hardy magellanicas are bushes planted in the ground in full sun -- when well-fed and watered over the summer, it is loaded with flowers and attracts many hummers. On colder winters, they sometimes die back to the ground but sprouts fast when it warms up. I grow the upright Gartenmeisters in big pots. It is less hardy and needs care to overwinter, which I don't bother since I can buy well-rooted starts in 2" pots for 50 - 99 cents in spring. If you can't find them locally, you might consider mail-order... I did a google search and a dozen vendors popped up. Also, don't forget plants that are similar to Gartenmeister, like Koralle or Firecracker. Look for red or orange triphylla types. Firecracker is particularly nice with its variegated foliage, and looks great with white tuberous begonias. I like to grow upright fuchsias with trailing types at their base. A nice combo is Koralle or Gartenmeister in the center with Autumnale and magellanica aurea at their base, with sweet alyssum or salmon impatiens as fillers. (Autumnale has gorgeous red/orange/lime green leaves, magellanica aurea is lime/yellow leaves.)

I can tell my gartenmeister has a nice rootball because it is very firmly entrenched in the potting mix and doesn't move a millimeter in high wind. This plant hasn't gotten much hummer use, but late in the season, once it cooled off, it exploded with blooms and looks great. I have limited space inside so I wasn't planning to overwinter it, but I also doubt I'll be able to find it locally again next year.