Cedar rust requires two hosts - anything in the apple family and the cedar family. After the gall from the cedar tree releases it spores, it grows on the apple trees which release their spores to form new cedar galls. I planted three crabapple trees which are supposed to be cedar-rust resistant, they still get a little fungus on them but not enough to really hurt them. CT - I was thinking blue-eyed grass! I don't know what I was thinking but we call that the century plant. I have some too and yes they do reseed easily although I would not call them invasive. I found one growing in our unmowed area with the wild grass. I took them to a plant swap last year at work and one of the swappers brought plants in this year that had seeded from the plant I gave her. Mine are planted on a hot, dry hill and do fine. I have moles too, lots of them! And I love wildlife too but I draw the line at moles and voles. I don't do anything to repel them though, they are just a fact of life for me. A couple of years before the brood X cicada emergence they got huge! The size of large baking potatoes! Which apparently is not unusual, they start eating the nymphs in the last couple of years before the emergence as they work their way to the top. What I hate is when I am working in the garden and all of a sudden earthworms come up out of the ground by the dozens and I can hear the mole digging his tunnel. Luckily as the soil dries out they tend to go deeper and the tunnels aren't as bad. Back to the garden!

I live about 20 miles east of naples, FL. I keep a journal for various interests and one of the things i've been keeping track of is hummingbird visits to my yard. I counted the number of days I saw HB's in my yard and it came to 188 days in the past year. They have been feeding on firebush plants. These plants bloom constantly except for a 6 to 8 week period in winter. When they are not blooming, I put up a tray type feeder to keep the birds around. I have two types of firebush: hamelia patens and calusa firebush. The hamelia flowers are a yellowish orange and the calusas are bright red. The birds don't seem to have a preference. The only differnce I can see is that the calusa flowers seem to close up during the hottest part of the day. Whenever these plants are blooming, the birds completely ignore the feeder. Right now I have about 20 of these plants in my yard, varying in size from a foot tall to almost 6 feet. I only bought 7 plants , then propagated the rest from seed and cuttings.

orioles usually return to the area they were born in. they winter in old mexico and central america and some in florida and the islands. just guessing that they would be returning again in mid to late April to your area either to nest or to fill up before they migrate further north. they are probably eating at your place to fill up before they head further south. the ones i get here eat the jelly and necter best but some really get after oranges or orange juice and a couple like watermelon or diced fruit pieces.

Tom, It's so cool that you're still seeing them. I've been watching but none yet. Here's a site that has month-by-month migration on Baltimore and Bullock Orioles: Oriole migration I couldn't find any info on whether the males and females migrate separately. It appears that they will winter in Florida from September through March. I found it interesting that older migration maps such as my Audubon Field Guide from 1977 (even found other maps online as late as 1985) show them wintering in Mexico and south with no mention of wintering in Florida. However, newer maps show Florida as a main wintering ground. Global warming? I know that they like sugar water and fruit juice, especially oranges, so I' not surprised they are using your hummingbird feeders. Enjoy your birds, Rhonda