Different butterflies are active at different times of the day. In the morning you may see butterflies basking in the sun warming up to fly or feeding flowers. As the sun fades later in the day some butterflies and/or moths become active while others start to roost. There is no set time. It really depends on your zone and how warm the day has become. Edna

Hi pinwheel! In addition to what others suggested, I have a heuchera ('Firefly') that has been blooming the past couple weeks and it is one with red-colored blooms that hummers are known to sample: There are a number of heucheras sold but mostly for the foliage so look for varieties that have an appropriate bloom. In addition, this year was the first time that I confirmed that a hummer would actually nectar from lilacs as I watched one of mine do so - and both of my lilacs are the later blooming S. patula and S. prestoniae hybrids. The S. vulgaris cultivars would bloom earlier. Also blueberries may attract some sampling and although I didn't personally see it happen, I expect they may have sampled a few of the blooms that are still on my bushes (most of the bloom occurred before I saw my first hummer this year, but a few straggler blooms remain). Right now, both my weigelas ("Red Prince" and "Midnight Wine") are in full bloom. I knew hummers nectared from "Red Prince", which was one of the shrubs that attracted them to my spot, but this spring I confirmed one nectaring from the "Wine and Roses". I bought a coral honeysuckle this year ('Blanche Sandman') which was already in bloom, so that is being used. However I'm not sure when it would bloom next year in my little microclimate, although I expect it would do so closer to the time that my mandarin honeysuckle blooms. And my mandarin honeysuckle is currently budding up to bloom soon and I watched as one of my hummers spotted it and continues to check on it and peck at it. I'm afraid the hummie will have to wait until it actually blooms! Pecking at it won't make it bloom faster. LOL Some other early-bloomers include some dianthus I am trying this year and a native american wisteria. So I'll see how these do. Anyway, last year I bought some already-growing Jacob Cline monarda which had its first bloom June 15. I don't expect my current crop to be blooming by then, although if it warms up soon, it might. In any case, the above listed plants all generally bloom before the monarda, even with many of my plants running about a week early this year due to the mild winter.

I agree with mblan13--7-10 days is too long between cleanings to be safe for the birds. If it takes that long to empty the feeders, fill the feeders only a third of the way, and store the extra nectar in the refrigerator. I have ten feeders. Four of them get depleted and need to be cleaned and refilled every day; the rest are refilled every other day. Our customers include a gang of the gigantic "hummers" (hooded orioles) part of the year, so they help. But even when it is just the hummers, 2-3 days is the longest the feeders last before refills are needed. Which is fine, because they would need to be cleaned anyway. It helps to choose an easy to clean feeder; it takes about one minute to clean and refill one of mine.

I also have a gang of four does parading through my property at will, morning, afternoon, evening and night. I have been religiously spraying my home brew (eggs, tabasco sauce, garlic, soap) every two days and it is paying off big-time. So far I have lost only one tulip, and she spat it out nearby. My hostas are just beginning to emerge here in the north tundra and I continue to spray them as they grow to discourage the bunnies and deer from having hosta salad. One evening my front yard motion senser went off, and sure enough there was a doe in my front garden munching on crocus leaves - the one thing I hadn't sprayed because that's something they're not supposed to like. I do find that I need to continue to be diligent all season long, although I back off to weekly by mid-June, or they take advantage of my slacking off. Let's just hope they don't acquire a taste of tobasco and eggs anytime soon . . .