My mind took a little trip with you when you described it. I know it was a special place for you, and I know you were relieved to find it still beautiful and a special place for somebody else. I always was ambivalent about going back to see an old home with memories, for fear of what I'd find. I have anyway, and in some cases it's heartbreaking, and in others I came away like you did. Relieved. The people who bought my house when I married have kept it well tended and loved, and I go by it several times a year on my way south. I detour off the highway to the little village where it stands and drive by it and I see my children sitting in the tree or riding their horse in my mind's eye. Makes me feel like a time traveler.

Dovetail, I didn't think to mention last night - if you haven't been seeing hummingbirds in your yard and want to attract them to that feeder, they might find it more quickly if you tie a piece of red ribbon to it temporarily until they've become accustomed to it as a food source. I know it doesn't need the pretty design altered to look lovely, but you may notice the hummers may need a bit of tantalizing to come in close and investigate. When we moved to this house I was seeing a hummingbird darting around these office front windows as I worked - week after Thanksgiving :). DH had put a feeder in back off the kitchen, but I had hung a Christmas wreath with nothing on it other than a red bow on the outside of the hallway door. They saw the bow immediately, were checking it for food :) I didn't have a wreath for the main front entrance yet that week then used bronzes and golds, no red to tease them.

Yes, there are some in Florida all year, but not in all places. As a large generalization North Florida sees the migration of Ruby-throateds hummingbirds starting in early March and ending in October. South Florida will see over-wintering Ruby-throateds in the winter months, but also see some in the summer. There are other types of hummers that visit in the late fall, winter and early spring. The most common are Rufous and Black-chinned. I am in the Orlando area and I get the normal migration in spring, but I also get over-wintering Ruby-throateds in winter months if there isn't a freeze and I get some Rufous in the late fall, winter and early spring usually. Areas just south of me, such as Lakeland, tend not to get many of the migration in spring and fall, but do get quite a few in the winter months.

This isn't about h-birds, and it's more about buzzers than hummers, but it seems like a reasonable follow up anyway. There's a narrow path along one of my borders, between a mixed bed and a small pool - about 25' long and only 3' wide (the path; the mixed bed is about 10' deep) and for over a month now the racket from the mixed bed has been astounding. This border is backed by old spruce trees and has a long row of evergreen euonymous (not one of the invasives, this is 'Manhattan' or a similar large-leaved variety) between the trees and a row of tree peonies, mountain laurel and azaleas, underplanted with gingers, geraniums, and various other perennials. Closer inspection revealed that the racket was coming from the euonymous, which has been blooming for weeks. After an even closer look, I realized that the buzzers were not bees at all, but flies. I can't detect any odor from these flowers, but there must be one, and it must not be anything that would appeal to people. Are there other plants that attract flies by the millions? These bugs (or are they insects?) don't seem to congregate anywhere else in the yard, and don't seem to be doing any harm. And, they don't scare anyone the way the bees that are swarming the clethra do.