However, Christmas Cheer (or Ima-shojo) wouldn't do as well in Ohio as Karens. Karens is hardy to -25F and Christmas Cheer is hardy to 0F. BIG difference. As far as I know, Karens is the only registered evergreen azalea hardy to -25F. Some hardy to -20F include: Bixby, Helen Curtis, Hino-red, Hino-white, and Marie's Choice. But, none of these have the nice winter foliage color like Karens. Probably the next hardiest to Karens is Stewartstonian which is a red azalea with great wine-red winter foliage and hardy to -15F.

Many Mexican Pinguicula species, hybrids and cultivars often respond to reduced photoperiods by sending up flowers. It is just part of their natural growth cycle. Also, many of them are known for flowering well during their "winter," non-carnivorous growth cycles. Just because the plant does not have carnivorous leaves at this stage does mean that it is not capable of photosynthesizing for energy or that the plant is not actively growing (in most case, it is still in active growth). Also, it is fairly common that the individual rosettes will spontaneously separate into two or more separate growing points. This phenomenon tends to coincide with flowering, though it can occur at any time, regardless of the season. After the separate crowns are allowed to grow for a several weeks to several months (depending on growing conditions), they will be easy to divide. And those newly repotted rosettes will eventually divide themselves and....you will then have quite a lot of pings! :-)

Hi, Marilyn! Glad you are enjoying your cardinals. Keep a close eye out, though...this time of year, you could have a wider selection of visitors to entertain you. Susannah, I can't help you on the cat situation (not that you actually asked for help). I don't allow my cats outside. Never have. The average life expectancy of an outdoor cat in this country is 2 years, compared to 15+ for indoor cats. So mine are housecats. Birds react to movement more rapidly than they do to noise, so there are varying opinions among experts on the effectiveness of belling cats. However, if it seems to be working for you, that's great. I never argue with success. But I would be much more concerned with what harmful thing my cats might get into if they were allowed outside. I can't bring myself to take that chance. Full sun is a bad idea for hummingbird feeders for two reasons...one, they tend to heat up and leak (drip, drip, drip) in the sun. And two, the sugar water ferments faster and has to be replaced more often. If you have a plant in full sun that casts some shade, that is doable. Generally, the suggested way to proceed with a new hummer feeder is to place it among or close to blooming plants that attract hummers. They will discover it there when they are feeding at the plants (like salvias, coral honeysuckle, petunias, etc). Then, you start moving it a bit at a time, closer and closer to the house or window where you would like to have it for optimum viewing. The hummers will follow it. All feeders need to be close enough to cover (shrubs, trees, etc) for birds to have a safe place to head when trouble shows up, but far enough away from cover that predators can't lie in wait for them. So, that part's a balancing act. Often, there is a lot of trial and error involved in getting your feeders set just the way you want them, but it's SO worth it. I'm happy to see so many people that want to entice birds into their gardens. Good luck!! Marcia

Yes, it's reasonable that house finches and pine siskins are around your area, and that they spend the winter. My sister has had house finches at their place in the Saskatoon area, year-round, for the last 15(?) years, likely more (and breeding records a few years after they started showing up). For the first time, we've had house finches here for a sustained period and they nested successfully in our neighborhood - will have to keep an eye out to see if they winter. Regardless of the mixed opinions the birding world has of their spread, it sure is nice to have colorful birds around that sing year-round, not just in the courting season. Pine siskins kind of come and go - they are around all summer and most winters here, but we didn't notice any last winter. Chickadees are always reliable! You didn't mention them, but I'm sure you have them. You can also expect redpolls at some time during the winter, especially if there is a lot of snow in the north, and they are pushed south to feed - keep an eye out for hoary redpolls among them (extremely short-billed, "frosty" birds). When a flock of redpolls shows up, you'll go broke keeping the niger feeders full, LOL! Siskins also tend to favor niger, so I'm surprised they're not pigging out. Also, evening grosbeaks - they seem to be especially attracted to lilac seeds (lots of lilac hedges in small towns in Sask!), and will eat sunflower. Other likely possibilities are pine grosbeaks, red crossbills, white-winged crossbills, particularly if there are any groves of spruce around - these tend to be roaming, and will come and go. Re. other regulars at your feeders, you can probably expect to see white-breasted or red-breasted nuthatches or both, and downy and hairy woodpeckers are a given. The odd flicker that winters over (quite common here) may also show up. They all like suet and peanut/peanut butter feeders. Blue jays also like peanuts...and if you put out unroasted peanuts, will bury them all over (no big deal and which we actually found kind of fun - it caused me to learn what peanut plants look like, LOL!) We haven't really had great success with putting fruit out in winter - though my sister finds it to be wildly popular in spring with the migrating songbirds when late storms hit. (She's also have had great results with fresh fruit and melon through the summer for orioles, robins, cedar waxwings, catbirds, warblers.) By the way, most of these "nonmigratory" birds don't have distinctly different plumages between adults and immatures (unlike, say, warblers and some of the other summer migrants) - so identification will be a little easier for a while. Female and immature house sparrows can always be distinguished by their, shall I say, lack of distinguishing characteristics? They are large, have that distinctive conical bill shape, and otherwise are just kind of...grey-brown. With more observation, I'm sure you'll be able to pick them out of any...