JeremyD - Not sure about your clay soils as I live close to the coast but I would say ammend the soil with some organic matter and it should help, or grow in pots. You will have to water more often if they are potted! Full Sun for sure! Trelis is the way to go! Have fun with them! I tooka bunch of old christmas lights and ran them along my trellis and it turned out flipping cool! Last season I grew long neck dippers, bottle, martin, and bushel. All where in pots at the four corners of my trellis. They took over everything in late summer! They found their way onto my japanese maples, tomatoe plants and even up and over my patio umbrella. We ended up with 60-70 gourds. We made birdhouses out of every variety along with bird feeders, vases and few other crafty things. This spring I have added a couple more trellis's for a few new varieties! Just have fun with them!!! I know we sure did. Here pictured are just a few of the birdhouses we have made. I placed a couple outside tucked into a J.Maple and a Camielia and already have new neighbors in them.

Great pics patsi! I too have had minimal hummer activity. In the past, regardless of the racket the starlings made at the suet feeder, or the large number of goldfinches at my feeder and on the plants, I'm only seeing a hummer, once a week IF I'M LUCKY! I've only seen one male and one female. The last few years, I'd see at least one once a day. This year it's definitely killing me, not seeing them daily. I've had a robin nest in the forsynthia, which is only a few feet away from my feeder, and that never bothered my hummers. I haven't even seen a monarch butterfly yet! Overall, butterfly activity is alot less as well. Few cabbage whites, sparse Eastern Swallowtails, although I have seen a few Black Swallowtails that were kind enough to leave me a load of caterpillars, most of which have been eliminated, probably by wasps. I have already released 2 butterflies & have 5 more chrysalids & 2 more cats still feeding. At least the mosquito population is up (yes, sarcasm), but it's keeping the bats happy, which too, appear to have had their numbers dwindle too :(

Hi Lisa, good to see YOU, too. You're right, it was Phoenix, tough little bird. I didn't have HW problems last year because Daddly Blue (new last year, back now) was vigalent..he was amazing! He & Mama had 3 broods & I was expecting a 4th but I think that the female died after the 3rd. The home front is quite different than last season. My Mom's had Alz. for a number of years & she and Dad lived in PA for 60+ years in the house I grew up in. In August, Dad got a diagnosis of lung cancer that had spread & he was dead the next week. Mom then had to go to the hospital, then to a nursing home in PA. Because it's only my brother & me, we decided to move her to GA where she's in a nursing home close to me. She came here on Oct 1st & she was still talking & cheerful. She's declined to the point where she doesn't talk much, sometimes doesn't know me. Basically, she is in the last stage. I visit her most days, maybe a little less than at first. There's not much I can do for her but she's in a great facility & they are taking care of her. I NEED bluebird therapy this year, that's for sure. I've lost both parents in less than a year and it's hard. Thanks for asking & it IS good to see you & some of the others. Blessings, Linda.

I love Chickadees, their cute chubby bodies, their song, and the way they take one seed from the feeder and carry it off it eat, less seed 'litter'! I get black-capped and mountain, but I swear I have seen Carolinas. Being new to birding, I am not sure Carolinas show up here in CO in the winter! I need to practice taking bird pictures so I can post them here.