Aggressive/territorial Hummingbird? silly newbie question...
DurtGrrl
18 years ago
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CHARANN102
18 years agostandard65
18 years agoRelated Discussions
Hummingbirds/Butterflies/Bees
Comments (2)Any time you have flowers, you may get all sorts of insects and sometimes bees and wasps. There are usually certain types of flowers that bees prefer but it often depends on your specific location and what all is located in the area around you. Ie., if there is a great source of material for bees in someone's yard, then they may mostly gravitate there and a few solitary bees might visit you. This may be more or less depending on how close you are to the ground and near areas where bees/wasps may build their hives. In my case, I grow blueberries on my balcony and those are bee-pollinated, so every year, I do pray for mild enough temps for the bees to be active enough to come up here and pollinate my blueberry flowers. In most cases, I get carpenter bees doing that as I rarely see bumble bees up here - at least when the blueberry is blooming. Last year was my first full year with a beautyberry and when it started blooming, I did get a whole pile of what I think were bumble bees that were all over it! Of course that helped because that's how I got a nice crop of berries! I have the beautyberry situated in the far western corner of my balcony away from where I frequent so I don't run into them that much and they're too busy getting that nectar. The only time I tend to have issues is late summer when paper wasps are out in force and they end up hanging out on my hummingbird feeder. In the past, I've also seen them on my moonflower vine, but that seemed to be an odd year where they may have also been attracted to the over-active nectaries (which produce big drops of nectar at the base of a leaf) on that particular vine. The hummers tend to steer clear of the wasps but will still come back to feed: But hummers will definitely chase away (or be chased by) a carpenter bee. The carpenter bees don't care about the feeder but they are territorial like the hummer and I've seen many a chase between the two! LOL...See MoreNewbie Question
Comments (13)Sorry, Bill, but unless you're looking at a different photo than I am, I have to disagree with both your identifications. I'm not certain of exact species, but the plant sprawling out of both sides of the pot is a type of cereus, or very likely hylocereus. This type of cactus (and it is a true cactus) can climb trees or walls by putting out aerial roots. I have one scrambling 12 feet up one of my palm trees. The columnar plant is not a euphorbia, near as I can tell. The best test is to make a discreet puncture, somewhere it won't show. If it bleeds milky white sap, it's a euphorbia. If it doesn't, it's not. I'm not good with my cactus taxonomy, but it's likely a myrtillocactus, or another form of cereus....See MoreOT Poppies and silly Tulip Tree Blooming...Again
Comments (11)Dipsandtets, Nancy, and Christine: This salvia has been growing here for about 8 years. I struggle a bit to contain the B&B salvia. It dies back above ground in winter, but the roots apparently are never killed here. And if I forgt, I will be pulling salvia from daylilies and clematis because it spreads underground...it is quite easy to pull up, however. There are several salvias in my yard: B&B, Hot Lips, Navaho, and Wild Thing which is a hot pink here. I have planted the maraschino but am going to have to plant it again. I do have hummingbirds, but because there are only one type here, the Rubythroats, there aren't ever more than 3 around at a time. They do not tolerate another hummingbird in their territory...a little female has owned my yard for two years. There are many battles where she chases off "intruders", but they still come because there is so much food here. Jean, it is off topic since it isn't about daylilies. But thank you for your kind words. My bench is invisible in the picture with the butterfly bush, but it sits just past the bush and just in front of the hydrangea. too bad you don't live close enough to visit, we could sit on the bench and watch the butterflies and birds. Avedon, those poppies are lovely. They are lighter but larger than mine. I am so delighted to have poppies since it is the first time I have grown any. kay...See Morenewbie needs help on planting
Comments (6)It was always my opinion cats[outside cats]and birds dont mix. Although when august migration is going on cats going thru here seem to ignore them and go straight to the field across the street. Im guessing you have the salvia splendens that you can see at most any side market or store and they dont last long nor draw many hummers. But there are also taller plants that are good hummer draws. Agastache tutti frutti gets to 4 and 1/2ft tall and so does salvia guaranitica blue ensign. The ensign looks just like black and blue only it has a green calyx opposed to the black but hummers dont mind and they too get 4 and 1/2ft. You will need to order the latter from Richard de Fresne at world of salvias. Heres a few more shots. You may enjoy the hummer on the tutti frutti , check out the link. lady in red lady in red-- these are still small from this years seedlings salvia blue ensign - notice the smaller black and blue in the background Here is a link that might be useful: hummer on tutti frutti...See MoreDurtGrrl
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