Barheadlass - There have been reports of bird disease in the south and since birds go from south to north and back again every year, it's hard to imagine it won't spread here. It seems to be some mystery disease that no one knows what it is or what can be done about it. The poor birds! No vaccine for them. I stopped using bird feeders a few years ago and only put out lots of birdbaths. I also have planted shrubs that offer berries, so I get some of those birds. I always have open ground in the vegetable garden so the robins have a field day going back and forth betweeh hunting for wormsm and taking baths. [g]

I worry even about the bird baths. I rinse them out and refill them every morning. When it's sunny enough, I will sometimes leave them empty in the sun to try to solarize them of germs. I wash down the areas around the property where there are droppings. That's about all I do and just keep my fingers crossed.

I have now seen that one hummingbird multiple times. We were standing outside talking to my daughter and he came up to her and hovered right next to her and zoomed off and startled her! lol And this morning she/he was back again trying to get more out of the same 3 Monarda flowers and 2 Honey Bee Blue Agastache that she was looking at yesterday. I feel so bad for her I'm going to head out this morning and pick up some more flowers to try to help out.

I've been calling around to see what they have in bloom. Unfortunately the nursery that is closest to me doesn't have what I thought I'd like to get. They are suggesting calabrachoa, lantana, verbena. They don't have any of the annual salvias and the only Agastache they have is 'Blue Fortune' Which is pretty similar to the Honey Bee Blue I have now. They have a Salvia Victoria Blue coming in but...I took a look at it and again, doesn't look like the type that attract Hummers.

I see there is a sale at another nursery that has 33% off Mandevilla vine, and some Butterfly Bushes. Neither of which I would want to grow long term but I could find a pot to put them in for the summer.

Do you have ay suggestions for the best plants? I see she really likes the Monarda - red bloom. I had bought native monarda to plant this year which is lavender color, but I had trouble w the seed starting this year. Not sure I will find any good Monarda at the nurseries right now. I have trouble keeping it because of mildew.

PM2 - you might like this video: Borage & Hummers

I have grown all the herbs mentioned in the article, except rosemary. Glad you had the hummingbird encounter, it's good for the soul.

I have stopped feeding the birds because of the mystery disease on the East coast and after finding bear poop in our yard last month.

I'm glad you posted about the hummer, PM2. I won't continue Claire's bird & critter thread, that was all hers, but I do hope people will continue to observe closely in their yards and post when inspired to do so. Well, three consecutive paragraphs beginning with 'I' is enough to make an English teacher ill, so off 'I' go. 😊

Jane

Exciting happening today. The hummingbird was back again and when he flew off I watched him and he joined another hummingbird, so I think there is a couple here!

I went to the local nursery this morning and picked up a red Mandevilla vine. I'm going to pot that up tomorrow morning and put it near the bed the hummingbird has been visiting. There are a lot of buds on it that haven't opened yet. It's not ideally what I wanted but they were limited in what they had.

I also called around to more nurseries and someone suggested a honeysuckle. I wanted a fragrant one, but they were out of those, but they have a new variety called Peaches & Cream that is supposed to only get 6ft tall and blooms all season and is fragrant. I've heard that before. [g] I've bought about 5 different varieties and none of them turned out to be fragrant and most of them didn't come back after the winter. I do want to get Major Wheeler at some point, but this time of year, they are out of them. I've about run out of places for vines at this point, but it wold make a good project for next year. The clematis can move over. [g] But Monday I'm going to try getting some annuals if I can figure out which ones to try.

You know Jane, that I hadn't participated on the bird thread often, because I haven't consistently fed the birds and I find it hard to photograph moving subjects. [g] I really do enjoy them though and I'm particularly enamored with the hummingbirds, I just can't consistently keep a feeder filled. And the few times I tried, I was filling it every day for weeks with no hummers, so I decided to just add as many plants as I can, which I've really still not succeeded with, but I keep working on it. Thank you for the link, I'll take a look at it.

I'm trying to decide if I have to stop putting out water in the bird baths. I see the Audubon Society is recommending it right now. I have a lot of robins that are used to me having water...and cardinals and a few others. Plus the pollinators. Are you still filling bird baths?

As far as beginning paragraphs, if I'm not using 'I', then I'm using So, or And, or But. lol Awful. Every once in awhile, I try to notice and do better. [g]

Globe said no bird baths either…but my robins and catbirds use them constantly. What a dilemma!

And very exciting about your hummers, Prairie! On a different topic, this week I bought three new day lilies at Tomcat Daylily Nursery in Mattapoisett. I’ve been gardening in this yard for 25 years, and this week have lost things to deer for the first time ever. They wiped out one daylily totally, and took buds off two of my new ones. Some phlox, some black eyed Susans, and one hosta were also nibbled. Now I’m afraid to go out every morning worrying about what else I’ll discover gone!
Corunum…looking forward to watching the borage video. Thanks!

Barrheadlass, I'm thankful I don't have deer, but really, if it's not one thing it's another. lol Some years it was a ground hog and then when we got rid of them, it was the rabbits. And the moles, I do think though, you might ask on the Perennial forums what people do about deer because I know a number of people do and manage okay. Sorry you've lost some things. This spring, I tried a couple of things for the rabbits with some success - cayenne powder was a little effective one year but not another. This spring, I heard that rabbits were out mostly from dawn to dusk, so I had the brainstorm of covering some of my plants with milk crates at night. That actually worked. I have lily flowering right now and last year the rabbits ate them all down and I didn't have one. They are supposed to like new growth, so they were less interested as they got larger and older. Good thing because I noticed they are out at noon time too and I can't cover my plants from the sun all day. Plus when they got big, the milk crate wouldn't fit over them any more. [g]

If I ever get a photo of the hummingbirds, I'll post it.

I wanted to take some photos this morning just of the new Mandevilla but it's like soup out there. I hate to take my good camera out there in this, the lense gets all fogged up. Another day!

The red Mandevilla looks like Christmas in a green pot. I haven't been out in the garden much this weekend and haven't seen the hummingbird again yet.

I find that the native honeysuckle, Lonicera sempervirens (mine is the selection Major Wheeler) is much visited by hummers. it blooms really heavily in May into June, but continues flowering on new growth all summer, even a bit after light frost.

Babs, I called a local nursery on Friday and they have a new shipment of 'Major Wheeler' coming in on Monday and I paid for one and will pick that up Monday. Also a hybrid Honeysuckle 'Peaches & Cream' that is fragrant and only gets 6ft tall? I guess that one is new. I'm going to call later today and see what they have for annuals that I can pick up too and put that in my order.

I'm trying to figure out where to put the 'Major Wheeler'. I'd like to put it in sight of a window and all I have is half sun/half shade. And no free trellis except out of the way in less sun. I'm going to have to do some figuring out for that one. I'm excited to get that because Major Wheeler has been on my list for a few years. I'm glad to hear you've seen hummers using it and that it has a long bloom period.

So, I picked up new plants just for the hummingbird this week. I headed to Russell's and they had the Major Wheeler Honeysuckle and it looks good. No blooms on it, now I just have to choose the right place to put it, for next year. Somewhere I can see it from the window would be great.

They also had Spigelia marilandica 'Little Redhead', which appears to be out of bloom and I'm wondering if I should deadhead it. They had Agastache, Salvia and Cuphea - the annuals that are not hardy here. So I brought some of those home, but, really when we took them out of the pots to plant them yesterday, they were really root bound and they have hardly any blooms or buds on them. So I think it will take quite awhile for those to do anything. Frustrating because, you wouldn't mind the delay in getting the benefit from them if they were at least giving you a discount price this time of year, but full price. I hope they settle in and push out new growth soon. I think next year, I will get more of the annual salvias and agastaches early instead of waiting until I don't have enough blooms and then being stuck doing this.

I did see the hummingbird again. On Tuesday he was in the back, visiting the couple of stems of Scarlet Runner Bean then the Hostas and one hanging basket that has a few things in it. Today I sowed more Scarlet Runner Bean and hopefully they will grow fast and bloom before Fall. And I might have something for the hummingbirds that are going South too.

Does anyone grow Spigelia 'Little Redhead' and do you know if deadheaded it will produce more buds?

Just a side note, i let my jewelweed grow because of the hummers. I have a feeder near them in a Japanese maple, too, and it is fun to watch them go back and forth amongths the jewelweed and then visit the feeder and tree for a sit. I felt like my feeders near trees were very visited. The hummers seemed to like feeling a bit hidden, and would often sit in the branches. Plus, hopefully the shade kept the sugar water from spoiling as quickly.

I faithfully filled, cleaned, refilled my glass hummingbird feeder for a couple of months on my second floor balcony in Baltimore, and never saw a single hummer. I have hanging baskets of fuschia, petunias, geraniums, portulaca, etc. in planters, and nobody showed up. I have stopped filling the feeder and am just leaving it up as a pretty globe.

Deanna, I have a small trellis with a clematis on it to the side of my kitchen window that is up against the house and already has a clematis on it. It's either that or I can add another small trellis I haven't been using against the fence that is visible from the ktichen window. Both of those locations are near our Japanese Maple but the tree is right outside our back door so people are always walking through there. I thnk either site will work out. Gets morning shade.

Esther - Yes, I did fill a feeder and cleaned it for about 3 weeks with no luck and maybe I already said that I've been here 30+ years and only seen them about 3 years out of the 30. Try a cuphea and see if that attracts them. That worked for me.

Esther, being on the second floor may be an issue if they aren’t looking for food at that height above ground.

I had humming bird go crazy over my red pentas flowers last year. They are easy to find in big box stores at this time of the year. I have tried the feeder a few times on my balcony. They tend to drink some early in the morning or such because the level goes down but I rarely see one using it. It's a shame throwing the sugar away all the time or letting it go stale so I gave up.

Red Pentas, what a great idea. I just bought pink pentas which was all they had, but I'll get those earlier next year. And I didn't think of looking at the big box store, so I might try that. Thanks getgoing.

We don't feed birds in the summer because of bears. NH Fish & Game recommends they be taken down by April 1. We have friends who continue to feed but they are also willing to deal with bears and outwitting them. I finally saw a hummingbird and have heard it when I've been outside. My husband had seen it weeks ago. I plant a trellis of scarlet runner beans near our kitchen window where we sit to eat but this year I also have pink hollyhocks growing under the window. My husband was thrilled to watch a humming bird check out a hollyhock blossom on the other side of the window. I also saw it taking a rest perched on a lower branch of a dark leaved crabapple.

We sat outside around 4pm and were surprised by all the bird activity after finally getting a sunny day. Thanks to rain we have some standing water and my husband spotted four scarlet tanagers frolicking in the water which is hardly clean since it's a grassy area. We rarely see scarlet tanagers so it was a big treat.

I just picked up a red pentas at Lowes to replace the one that died this winter of root rot after two years of non stop blooms. They overwinter easily and keep blooming even indoors in winter given a little light and warmth.

Defrost, I think I read a comment you made in the spring about how early the feeders come down. I haven’t fed birds for about 3 years.

I did sow more Scarlet Runner Bean this weekend but it’s probably too late to get bloom in time but I had the seed and thought I should give it a try.

How did your Hollyhocks do? I love them but I hate the rust that gets pretty bad here for me.

I have never seen a scarlet tanager, so I can imagine how great that was. Since I stopped feeding the birds I get fewer varieties every year.

We get a few puddles along the street after rain but nothing on the property. I stopped filling my bird baths this weekend. I felt awful about it. At least it was the wettest July ever and they’d already raised their babies. Hardly saw or heard a bird all day yesterday. I know Audubon said we should do that, and that the birds would work it out, but, they had to leave to find a consistent source of water.

And I was thinking about it and it occurs to me that birds will be migrating south where they’ve had so much disease and may bring it back up with them in the spring. But regardless, they will be congregating together wherever they find water. So, why should we stop filling the feeders or birdbaths? It’s not preventing the birds from being in close contact with each other or from mingling wtih birds who are migrating. I’m considering filling the bird baths again. Couldn't it be that the birds are better off to have their usual sources of food and water?

Getgoing - I never tried wintering over Pentas. I'll have to give that a try this winter. Thanks!

I saw the hummingbird again yesterday and he was hitting all the new plants I bought but I haven't seen him use the Mandevilla yet. I could have missed it. My sun garden is right out my front door, and I saw him as I was coming down the steps and he was about 10ft away and I just stopped moving to watch him. So fascinating to see them move. He saw me and started hovering and moving about looking at me, then went back to what he was doing. Then a second hummingbird came along and chased him away. I thought initially they were a couple, but I guess not. I went back in the house for about 10 mins to do something and went back out the front and one of them was back. So I guess he's decided this is his territory. I feel like I need to make it worth his while. [g]

I know many of you have feeders and see many hummingbirds every day, but without feeders, and with a small garden, I'm surprised to have a frequent visitor and delighted. This is the first year I've seen one consistently in the garden.

I saw a pair of hummers yesterday. They were not fighting or courting, so behavior led me to believe that they were a mother and just fledged young. I see hummingbirds regularly, but like defrost I cannot feed due to bears, so I have many plants for them. I know that I have at least one breeding pair every year, so they must be content.

Babs, I would be content with one breeding pair or even a consistent visitor. You have a lot more area for a pair to nest, my suburban yard doesn't seem to cut it. I saw one again this morning, near the Milkweed and Tiger Lilies. I don't suppose they use lilies?

PM2, I haven’t seen hummers visiting my lilies, though I sometimes see them at the old fashioned daylilies, H. fulva. They particularly love Lonicera sempervirens Major Wheeler, Salvia guarantica Black and Blue, native columbine, an early and long blooming Heuchera, and the toxic to us but beautiful monkshood.

I'm going to try a bed in my vegetable garden next year with a trellis full of Scarlet Runner Bean, borage and Vermillionaire Cuphea next year. They are favoring those here right now. I will have the Major Wheeler and I am definitely going to get S.Black and Blue early. They were gone by the time I looked. They gave me Victoria Blue instead and the bees are not even visiting it.

Speaking of toxic, we had an incident last weekend with the dog in the yard who got ahold of a branch trimmed off a Taxus and chewed off bark. So now we are paranoid. We've already had to scour the yard for Poison Ivy and then Mushrooms that are popping up everywhere with the rain. So I'm looking over the lists of toxic plants and there are SO many plants to be concerned about. Virginia Creeper is on there and we have one lot line covered with it. My daughter's puppy puts everything in her mouth! So no monkshood for me. [g]

I haven planted scarlet runner bean recently, but when I did the hummers like the flowers. I have planted cuphea recently and they ignored it.

Prairiemoon, my hollyhocks are only a couple of years old and growing on the south side of the house and looking pretty good but they aren't very tall. Just tall enough so we see a few blooms at window height.

What a great idea to plant scarlet runner beans and borage next year. I used to have borage self seed but then it was growing in a large clump in a veggie bed and taking up valuable space so I pulled it all. I'm going to have to look up Vermillionaire Cuphea. I'm not familiar with it.

I hope something is visiting all the volunteer calendula. I planted some struggling nasturtium seedlings that spent too much time in cell packs. I think they are going to survive. I've read on the facebook dehydrating group that people dehydrate the blossums and leaves for seasoning.

And, sometimes, they just stop by to say, "Hi". Just outside my window, yesterday. Wendy's Wish salvia in background, planted in a large pot.

Jane

Babs, you probably have so many more interesting plants that they like better.

Defrost - I’m sure the placement of the Hollyhocks gives You a view of the hummingbird traffic to the plants from your window though. I haven’t tried growing them in awhile, but I might try that too.

The other plant, did I mention it, is the Pineapple Sage which they are supposed to like too, I thought I might add one of those in the center of the bed. I grew one once and doesn't it smell like pineapple? My borage self seeds every year, but it always falls over it’s so top heavy. I’m planning on using some kind of support next time.

I bought a couple of pretty calendula seed and never got around to starting them, so I just sowed them on the end of a bed a few days ago. Calendulas are great and I guess you can use it for cooking and some people make cream from it too. Useful and easy plant. Nasturtiums are another plant that comes in a nice red too and they are supposed to use those. Also the Red Pentas might find a home in that same bed. I like the idea of giving them their own bed. [g]

Great photos Jane! I like the color of that Salvia ‘Wendy’s Wish’. I just brought home an ‘Ember’s Wish’ that I wish I had bought at the beginning of the season. It’s a little root bound and I need to deadhead it, I think.

This is not my plant but what it is supposed to look like from an internet photo. Mine from the nursery is only 3 stems at this point. [g] I think I like your color better. I'm not a huge fan of red but I grow red just for the hummers, if that's what they like.

I don’t know how you get a photo they move so fast. I don’t have an iPhone, just a big camera, so I don’t always have it with me for a surprise meeting like I’ve had. So I enjoy your photos!!

Yesterday, I stepped out into the yard and saw something zip across in front of me and around a hedge. It took me a moment to realize it was a hummingbird. I'm not sure what it was visiting, possibly a tiger lily on one side, either that or the back garden, which has purple coneflowers and red yarrow blooming currently; I'm not sure of it's destination, though, as I lost track of it around the lilac.

That's awesome that you've got a pair visiting your garden!

Pineapple sage definitely has a pineapply flavor. It fan be a challenge to get it to bloom around here, as it's not hardy ... flowering in the basement isn't super helpful to hummingbirds.

The bees definitely adore the purple coneflowers ... it seems everytime I look there are at least two or three bees of some sort on them, usually little bumblebees or honey bees. The little bumblies love our lavender (we put a flowering lavender on the deck, and it had a be on it within an hour) and the tomatoes on our deck, too, particularly Maglia Rosa. (I watched one visit every single flower ... it visited a couple on the other plants, too too, but it kept going back to Maglia Rosa.)

Oh, and Barrheadlass, we've had some luck with stakes stuck into the ground near daylilies that require special protection. Deer don't seem to like sticks sticking up at them during their meals.

Thanks, BB! Apparently the deer haven’t been back and things are recovering. Yest Yesterday i saw a hummingbird visiting my vitex. And And, there have been more monarchs than ive seen in years. I do miss my birdfeeders and birdbaths, though.

I agree, lots of monarchs this year!

My son was here visiting and we were sitting outside by the full sun garden and we were telling him about the hummingbird and all of a sudden he said, oh..there he is! First time he saw a hummingbird in real life. lol He was tickled and so was I that he could see it in person.

I am seeing a few more butterflies than usual this year, not by a lot, I don't get a lot even though I've added lots of asclepias. Believe it or not I got more butterflies when I grew a Butterfly bush, which I don't have any more. I have seen a swallowtail and a few of those little orange ones and the white ones of course. I still have asters yet to bloom and last year one of my asters was covered with butterflies. I divided it into three so I hope that will give them more to use.

Well, I put my birdfeeders and bird baths back up yesterday. Cornell Lab of Ornithology says it is safe to do so. It took about 3 or 4 hours for goldfinches to show back up….squirrels? An hour! I had to laugh.

Right there with you Barrheadlass.

I also got an email from Russell's, a local garden center yesterday and they said they believed it was safe to go back to feeding and leaving water for the birds but to keep everything clean. Audubon is apparently dragging their feet about giving the okay, but Cornell has provided some facts that there was no infection and they have been involved from the beginning, and that is good enough for me.

I cleaned my birdbaths out yesterday and let them dry out and left them overnight and I'm going to fill them this morning. Nice you have goldfinches, Barrheadlass. I used to have more of those when I grew echinacea, I don't see them as much any more.

Sometimes I have 30 goldfinches! I feed hulled sunflower seeds (yes, my birds are spoiled) in a tube feeder that has a cage around it to keep out large birds, and goldfinches love it. I used to go through tons of thistle seed, not so much anymore. It is on my echinacea that I’m seeing most of the monarchs.

Yes, I used to see goldfinches on sunflowers too now that you mention it but I don't grow them often. They are beautiful birds. I stopped feeding about 3 years ago and I try to provide as many berry bushes and seed producing perennials as I can. I'm not exactly on a migration route here, so I rarely see anything beyond the most common birds. I end up with a lot of robins that love the yard and the bird baths and usually raise babies a couple of times a season at least. It is a lot of fun to watch them.

I got out the hummingbird feeder a few weeks ago, but it's been sitting where I left it. I'm going to give it away. I know I can't keep up with mixing, filling & cleaning it. (our dishwasher broke a few months ago and since it is usually just 2 of us, we haven't fixed it. We can barely keep up with our dishes, nevermind a hummingbird's)

You all have made me consider a couple of window boxes near where we sit inside. Just for hummers. I love watching them, but red is definitely not in my garden's color scheme. Besides, I couldn't see a hummer in the main garden from the house. Have to think about what kind.....I'd want them deep enough not to have to water 2 x a day....

I'm really trying to be realistic about what I have the time, energy and interest to maintain. I'm tired of starting and abandoning 'projects' that seem like they'll be fun but are unsustainable. That didn't bother me when I was younger but it does now.

Marie