Morning Glories: 2010 Fall blooms from other plants!, 0 by beckygardener

beckygardener wrote:
A - It does get down to freezing here at night in the coldest time of winter, but it is usually only for a few hours. Last year though, we had days and days of freezing weather which was unusual. Lost a lot of tropical plants last year. Most everything dies back in winter except my Cape Honeysuckle and some other plants that stay evergreen. We still get a lot of sunlight during the winter months which warms things up most days! I had ripe cherry tomatoes all winter last year. I just had to move them into the garage at night when there were freeze warnings. LOL!

Funny story ... My Cape Honeysuckle (small tree/large bush) is blooming beautifully right now. But I noticed not nearly as many blooms as previous years. They appeared to be falling off the tree almost as fast as they were blooming. Come to find out that my Cardinals also like the sweet nectar from them and were pulling off the blooms, manipulating them in their beaks, and licking the nectar off the bottom of the blooms! And then dropping the blooms on the ground. I had never seen cardinals do that before. They are usually seed/insect eaters. Not nectar lovers! So now my hummers have to compete with the cardinals and bees for the nectar of those blooms. LOL LOL LOL I think it is the most popular small tree/large bush in my yard right now!