Regarding the 4:1 sugar solution: the four to one mix (20%) is the standard but Marcia's three to one (25%) is used by some, especially in winter when freezing is a possibility. The higher concentration of solids lowers the freezing temperature of the liquid so it will remain liquid in colder temperatures. Refractometer testing of nectar from various "hummingbird plants" indicates that the sugar percentage of naturally occurring nectar ranges from 15% to greater than 32% (32% is the highest accurate measure for the refractometer used). The percentages vary by season as well as time of day. Although birds may feed on the flowers measuring 32%, many the blooms fed on will likely be of a lesser concentration, averaging in the range of our homemade solutions. The recipe for sugar water has always been 4:1 then boil for 2 minutes to kill any bacteria. Boiling isn't really necessary for sanitizing the solution. I boil the water before adding the sugar just to dissolve the sugar easier. If you keep extra solution in the refrigerator, boiling may extend its shelflife. The boiling free powders are just finely ground sugar that dissolves easily. I recommend against using any of the solutions or powders that have added ingredients. There is no evidence that any of these ingredients are necessary and the fact that there are many cases of birds feeding almost exclusively at feeders with no health issues indicates that there is not a long term problem with our feeder solutions. The female Rufous that has visited my yard for the past seven years migrates to the north Pacific coast for the summer and then returns to my yard for seven month of the year (August - March). My issue with the solutions without additives is mainly a case of money. How much sugar can you buy for the cost of one bottle of solution. It's like coffee at a restaurant. At a dollar plus a cup of coffee, you could buy a pound of coffee for the cost of 5-6 cups. How many cups of coffee can you make with that pound. Regarding Sarasota hummingbirds: If you first saw them in August in the past, that's what I'd expect this year as well. Areas near breeding birds are beginning to see the local young dispersing. If you don't have any local breeding, you can expect birds when migration of young birds and adult males begins in late July/early August. Migration lasts through September/October. It sounds like you were seeing migrating birds last year. It may have seemed as though they were the same birds but you likely saw a regular turnover of birds. The "experts" like to suggest that these birds don't stay longer than 2-3 days but I believe some of these birds stay much longer. I would like to see fall banding of hummingbirds to confirm the timeframe that they stay but it is almost impossible to get them in the cage with the abundance of flowers around. Regarding summering birds south of Tampa: I received a report of a Ruby-throated Hummingbird nest on the Big Cypress Bend boardwalk (Collier County) a few weeks ago. The observer documented it with photos and video. Steve Steve Backes Valrico, FL backes1@verizon.net http://mysite.verizon.net/resu64md/yardhummers/ http://floridahummingbirds.net/ http://floridahummingbirds.proboards.com/ Here is a link that might be useful: Florida Hummingbirds Forum

You have the PERFECT spot for a natural looking butterfly garden, meadow-style. I love it, and can't wait to watch your progress, Heather. I never have the patience to wait for the smother method to work in a bed, possibly because I'm not doing it right. (Ill, I need more help from you in that regard...my front yard bed where I want to put the mushroom compost has a lot of puny, scraggly grassy stuff that needs to go.) I would probably start with a heavy duty rake and scuffle hoe in that sandy area and begin to clear a small patch about 4 or 5 feet square or so. I'd put down my compost, rake it in and start planting there. Then maybe I'd try the smother method across the rest of the area, if I had actually learned the correct way to do it by then. But no matter how you prepare, just go for it, and start filling up that area with good nectar and host plants. In your last photo, I could envision a long, curvy bed along the left side, coming down towards the cleared pathway area (is that going to stay a path/road?) and looking very natural, as though the flowers had sprung up along the edges of the woodland all by themselves. Yes to all the wonderful plants mentioned above, but one word of caution. When buying HOST plants, you have to be sure that they have not been sprayed at the nursery, before arriving in the stores. I once bought some fantastic looking (that should have been a CLUE) milkweed at Home Depot for my larva which had eaten almost all of mine, and within ten minutes of them moving over to the new plants, every single caterpillar was dead on the ground! Good sources for pesticide free host plants include Lukas nursery, Biosphere, and Seminole Springs Herb & Antique Roses. I'm sure there are others. But you never know at the big stores. They are great for some things, but not necessarily for host butterfly plants. (Except for the herbs, of course, which are sold for human consumption, so presumably are safe.) Good luck with it all, and please keep us posted! Marcia

Guess I'll introduce myself over here, though many of you already 'know' me or will recognize my screen name since I'm pretty vocal on many other forums! I'm Susan and I live in Houston, TX with my wonderful husband Jason and younger son John (14, with high functioning autism and apraxia). Older son is off at college. I have my own little company designing software for the hospitality industry, and Jason is a professional remodeler who is 'semi-retired' now and working on our house -- a complete rebuild. I first found GW through the Kitchen forum when we re-did our kitchen about five years ago, and I've become progressively more addicted aver since. My zodiac sign is Gemini, and I'm a Gemini in the kitchen as well. Some days, I just want something quick and easy (but still fresh and from scratch please!); other times I love to putter and spend hours making homemade soups and inventing dishes of one sort or another. Recipes? Not so much... They're good for inspiration, but when I'm in the mood to cook, don't tell me what to do! The toughest part of cooking for me? Figuring out what to cook! What a PITA... I need to come over here for inspiration more often.

skrepka- Don't worry, you're not alone. I will be moving to St. Pete in JULY and I'm ready for it to be awful, especially because our "new" 1970-built house doesn't have a pool (yet). My DH may have "gamed" it a little when he took me back there for house-hunting at the end of October/first week of November when the weather was PERFECT, and he knows it! LOL. But the area meets our requirements: (1) Job: I'm retiring from the Navy but my DH does hi-tech/government work; if you haven't been to the area for a while, you might be surprised with the recent influx of hi-tech jobs in the Tampa/Pinellas/Sarasota area. My DH has a large number of choices if the move with his current company doesn't work out, which it looks like will, thankfully. (2) Schools: We're big believers in the public school system and Pinellas has the strangest system around. Good schools, great schools, awful schools. As long as there are decent schools with good programs, we're fine. There are lots of programs for upper-level kids, magnets, IB, etc. (3) Boating: Water recreation is our thing. Wanted a place to put our sailboat, where we could fish and kayak. Also, we do a lot of biking, and the 35-mile Pinellas trail is less than 2 miles from our house. My DH & I have both lived and visited all over FL thanks to our military careers (and we're both aviators). We both lived in Guam (and my DH in Key West), so we're well seasoned after surviving numerous typhoons with no option for evacuation. I don't care for the panhandle or Jax. I've only visited Orlando on a Disney vacation, and it seemed rather sprawled out to me. I thought Cocoa Beach was a nice place to visit, and I really liked Cape Coral, on the west coast. But I just love nearby St. Pete - reminds me of San Diego. We keep watching "Hoot" to keep the boys motivated! (manatees come up our canal during the rainy season). Anyway, you might want to look around a bit where the jobs might be available. If you can find a good headhunter, you could end up in a great place! Good luck! Lisa A.