Hi everyone! Got my Bouvardia ternifolia in the mail the other day. I love its color! Steve, Thanks for the info and the beautiful pics! I guess the red petunia will probably be a bust but we'll see. I like bees as well though. :) Funny you should mention pentas. I've been reading Hummingbirds and Butterflies (Peterson Field Guides/Bird Watcher's Digest Backyard Bird Guides) and they recommend pentas with dark eyes or something like that (the book is at home). I might find a spot for some! Susan, Same with me. I'll spot a few males for a day or two in late March or earlier April and get super excited hoping some will stick around but they never do. I won't see any regular ones until early July. I'm considering putting up a feeder next week just in the hopes of trying to get one to stick around longer! Laugh. I've only been to Bustani once. It was cool. I'm hoping my Erythrina x bidwillii (Coral Bean Hybrid) made it through this brutal winter okay. Surely it will sprout from the base if all of the top is dead from the cold. Can't believe your hummers don't dig David Verity! Mine absolutely love it though I did see that the one in a pot on the back deck got way more attention than the ones I had growing in the ground so you might try one in a pot on an elevated spot to see if you get any action. Oh, I noticed hummers coming to our sunflowers last year but didn't realize they were eating insects. I'll have to pay closer attention this year. :) Sherry, Yea. I went way, way overboard this year. Who knows how many plants will make it or will actually be started from seed since I've no room inside at this point! Thanks for the Malvaviscus drummondii recommendation. I've grown them before. Sometimes Home Depot will carry them so I'll grab one this year if I see any and I'll let everyone know which plants were the biggest hit this year. :) -Robert

Oh, I'm sure not going to give up, I enjoy their presence far too much! I will keep putting out fresh nectar every few days until it is time for them to leave. I really want to attract humers again. If something broke the line of hummers who stay here, I will try to attract new ones again and start fresh. The cedar tree that they have nested it in the past is still here, the butterfly bushes and other flowers that atract them are still here, and the yard is organic (so should be healthy for them). I think I should probably move the feeders to more obvious places though. My little lineage knew where to find them in the shady places where the nectar stayed freshest, but I need to attract new birds, sadly.

I spoke too soon. Just when I thought they were all gone, I saw a single hummer today at my home made Salvia coccinea feeder. I hand make all of my feeders from small liquor bottles with realistic-looking Sculpey clay flowers. Sculpey (in case you've never heard of it) is a colored clay that you can bake to hardness in the oven at 275 degrees F. Aside from the sheer joy of the birds themselves, I've really enjoyed designing different feeders all summer and figuring out the perfect design needs and preferences. For example, through my efforts, I've learned that their reach with tongue and bill is at least 40mm, but won't go much over 50mm. I learned this when I made one of my flowers too long (about 53mm), and the poor birds would dip their bills in and come up empty! I had to break it apart and shorten it to allow the birds to get access. At first I stuck to only red flowers, but later got adventurous and tried a purple Lobelia. To my delight, they took to it immediately. Next year, I'm going to expand to white, orange, blue, and marbled combinations to see if they show any preferences. Anyway, I had just put this new Salvia coccinea feeder out yesterday, but was disappointed that all the birds seemed to be gone. I figured I'd have to wait until next year to see if they liked it. Talk about delayed gratification!! I was so happy to see a single bird come this afternoon and see her feeding from it. The window box with snapdragons was blocking my view, plus the late afternoon lighting made it really hard to see the throat well, but I'm pretty sure it was a female. As I mentioned earlier, I haven't seen an adult male since early August.

that would depend on where the nest is. if in the ground she'd have a good chance for survival & might stay put. if in an open nest or say an abandoned bird house she'd need to seek a warmer location. if you can locate the nest destroy it after spraying them or when they've gone dormant. if in the ground get a gallon of a good pesticide & mix it in a bucket with some liquid dish soap & pour it into the hole with a funnel. do this after they've gone dormant or if you have a problem nest during the warmer weather pour the mix in at night. wear long pants & sleeves, a hat, gloves, & cover your face with a bandana. pour it quickly & run like h**l. I know some will poo-poo this but gasoline or diesel fuel in a ground nest works too. if you're not up to it call a pro. yellow jackets & hornets can be quite aggressive . anyone in the St Louis area can contact me for swarm captures & bee removals from buildings & trees. this would be for honeybees only. 99.999 % of the calls I get after mid august are usually yellow jackets.