Thanks for the suggestion about coral honeysuckle. When I said trumpet vine I meant "cardinal climber" -- is that the same thing? I'll have to plant the cardinal climber away from the house then. Will it re-seed on its own and take over my garden in zone 6? Maybe it's cold enough up here that I don't have to worry about that. From what I can tell either of these will grow from seed direct sown outdoors. Is that right? Or is it better to buy a plant from the nursery? I'll be on the lookout for Salvia "Lady in Red" and "Coral Nymph." We've got a few nurseries around here with excellent selections (too much!). I'll look for 'Jacob's Cline' Monarda too. Most of my planting will be in containers. Mary Ann

Thanks everyone for the very kind words. Sorry it took so long to thank you, I've been too busy to visit my favorite site for a while. The trumpet vine and bee balm finally started blooming, so maybe I can get some new shots this weekend to share. Rhonda

Hi irish rose grower! If you have been following my threads you will know that I did the feeder a little longer than a full year before I saw a hummer at it and now I have one male that comes 3 times in the early morning and 3 times as the sun goes down. I now also have 2 or 3 females that come all day long. Looking back at it all now I am wondering if I may have had a few visit last year and not even known it as I looked at the feeder a few times a day, but I now see that unless we are as lucky as hummersteve that my approach to seeing hummers last year was not enough. Even with 3 or 4 regular birds visiting my feeders everyday it is rare that I just look out and see one there. It does happen, maybe once or twice a day, but the typical experience for me is to sit there and look and usually within 5 minutes one will come along. Usually one will come and feed quickly and run back off! I would say that the average stay at the feeder seems to be 20 to 30 seconds, with some as short as 5 and some up to a minute. They are small and fast! Not having a feeder could make it harder to just look out and find one as the flower possiblities are far more than just looking at a feeder quickly. If you have not done so I would suggest putting a chair outside at least 15 to 20 feet from some of the plants that you think they would like this time of the year and sit fairly still for a half hour and enjoy your garden. Best time might be 7:30pm. They might surprise you with a quick fly in and fly out. I grew up on LI. Moved one state over about 13 years ago.

This year (2016) these were some of the Hummer's favorite plants. Most I either grow from seeds, buy from Online website called "Flower's by the Sea" at www.fbts.com ) great place to buy plants but you have to place order by Feb. as they sell out fast. Plants are we well rooted, some blooming already. Never had any problems with disease or pests. Great customer service & staff. I will buy locally if I can find the plants I am looking for & trying to buy local native plants as some plants do not do well with the heat & humidity here in Tx.. I live now in Denton, Tx -zone 8. When I live in Lincolnton, N.C. we had a Hummingbird haven with a larger yard & sunny growing areas. The sun & drought in N.C. was not as harsh as it is in Tx.- In Tx we have the Ruby-Throated & the Black-Chinned Hummer's & they have different taste. They also prefer the plants over the feeder's & are very nervous birds. In N.C. we only had the Ruby-Throated ones; they love the feeder's, our plants & were more tame. We had 20-30 birds B4 migration in N.C. year- 2006 B4 we left. Here in Tx we started with 1-2 birds in Spring 2013 & now this yr.(2016) counting the juvenile's of both types & adults we had about 8-10 birds, We also had waves of different birds 3 times b4 all left as of Oct. 19th. TEXAS PLANTS- I grow from seeds each yr are Cypress Vines & Mexican Sunflowers. Our Cypress Vines we trained to grow this year up a metal stake & bamboo up the mature trees in the backyard & they reached a height of 20-30 ft. & laid like a blanket among the trees giving the hummer's a drapery of vines to spend a lot of time going to each flower. The birds also loved the Zinnia- single flower tall plants but I ran out of room (this yr. 2016). Our Salvia favorites were- Salvia guarantica 'Black & Blue', Suncrest Bright Eyes (Autumn Sage) Spring & Fall flowering due to our heat, Amistad, Lipstick(Salvia greggi) was just added this yr., , Salvia greggii 'Cherry Chief'- big hit this Spring thru Fall, Hot Lips Salvia is a great early Spring plant but stops blooming during the heat of our summer's reblooms in the fall when it cools off, 'Lady in Red' tolerates our heat if watered & could be grown in window boxes as it is a shorter plant, Love & Wishes & Ember's Wish I usually grow as annual's but did come back this yr. because of our mild winter (2015),. Heatwave Blaze Salvia was added this yr. but was only visited by juvenile's & late traveling birds (not our regular adults), Purple Dwarf (Salvia Leucantha) is great for Fall, Pineapple Sage(Salvia elegans) is good for fall blooming., Danielle's Dream(Salvia leucantha) was just tried this yr. suppose to bloom in the summer-fall but mine did not start until fall. NONE SALVIA PLANTS--- were Cuphea x 'David Verity' also called (Cigar plant), Anisacanthus quadrifidus v. wrightii / Hummingbird Bush or Texas Firecracker Bush, Compact Hamelian patens also called ( 'Compact Fire Bush') may be just an annual where I live as growing zone is 8-9 (nectar did not come in until fall but was covered with blooms all Spring-Frost. If we have snow or ice this winter it may not come back & I also here it is very slow to start putting our leaves as it will die back to the ground, so do not dig up too early thinking it is dead unless never comes back, Kniphofia both the Mango Popsicle & Redhot Popsicle also known as 'Poker plants' are perennial plants, Turks' Cap (red or pink colored blooms), 'Major Wheeler Honeysuckle Vine, Red Lantana(Shrub Verbena), Trumpet Vine's (non-invasive type's) also called Campsis Radicans grow both well in N.C. & Tx. 'Indian Summer' is a non-invasive type & can be bought On-line. Weeping Bottlebush grows well in Tx & does not have the thorns. The other tall varieties do well & draw the hummer's but have thorns. Red Columbine is a Native Spring plant for Tx, our white flowered Abelia Shrub that I was going to have my husband remove was a huge hit this year (2016) with the juvenile's that were trying every plant for the 1st time & they seem to go to it everyday for about 5 days b4 they left. We had never seen anything go to it b4. PLANTS IN N.C.- We had Blueberry Bushes & Prairifire Crabapple Tree which helped attract the birds in early Spring as that is when the tree/shrubs flowered, we also grew Hosta plants with the purple flowers & these were the old fashioned type. I cannot grow the hosta plants here in Tx. The Phlox grew in N.C. (but does not do well in Tx), Fushia plants were grown in hanging baskets, Buddleia davidii 'Black Knight' did well in N.C. but has died twice in Tx even in a large pot where I can control amount of water, light & soil but was a popular plant in N.C. by the butterflies & hummer's. Lochroma plants as annuals in large pots, Red Bee Balm (but buy mildew resistant ones), Salvia coccinea 'Coral Nymph' was popular in N.C. but not in Tx. Foxgloves did well in a part-shade/part-sun in the garden in N.C. for Spring flower's but I have not tried growing them yet in Tx. Old-Fashion Camelia evergreen plants attract hummingbirds & grew well in N.C. We also had mature red & hot pink azalea shrubs , many trees for perching, shade, lichen & nest areas & a lot more of wide-open areas for flying. In Tx we do have plenty of small bugs which the hummers do eat esp. when 1st arriving in Spring to get into mating condition & again in the fall to gain weight. We do not spray our yard for insects because of the poisons that I do not want the birds to ingest. So our gardening in the different states is greatly different. We do not have the room for succlents & cactus but may if we move to the County farther out from the city.