Worth it?

I really started focusing my gardens to be butterfly and hummer friendly. I planted pentas, buddelia, asclepsia, shasta daisys, clerodendrum, zinnias, turks cap, monarda...the list is endless. i'm also completely pesticide free. the catepillars (moth only) and beetles love me. theres no threat of a poisoning.
i have 3 feeders that i change regularly every 2 days. on any given day i may see 1 butterfly and i havent seen a hummer since march. the feeders are untouched it looks like.
am i doing something wrong? (waaaahhh) i'm using up a bunch of sugar to make the nectar just to throw it away...hey i wonder if i could mix it with the koolaid for the boys?? j/k.
just feeling aggrivated

MsJen - this happens to me too. I see the hummers in early spring for a few weeks and then they disappear. Later in the summer (Just saw one yesterday) - they come back and seem to stay until it's time to head south. I don't know if this is true but - I've always assumed they are busy nesting and taking care of their young. After the feeders go untouched for a while I don't bother refilling them anymore. When they return there's always plenty of flowers for them.

The same thing happens with the Baltimore orioles. They're here round the clock feeding on the oranges I put out in the spring. Then after a couple weeks they disappear. I don't think your doing anything wrong - they're just taking care of birdie business....

was i assuming wrong then when i thought they wanted nectar year round? i guess i had the impression that once they found you, they hung around.
now that i think about it, last year they disappeared also and returned when the cardinal flower started blooming, which i think should be soon. they started germinating, so the blooms shouldng be far behind.
i also just noticed the blister beetles on the sweet autumn clematis. usually by the time thats done flowering the cardinal flower starts.
maybe theyll return soon...
thanks poppysue

Jen,
I have had one hummer for the last few day.....maybe more will be by shortly.

did he just show up or has been hangin around all summer?
noticed today that im starting to get buds on the cardinal vine so it shouldnt be too much longer before they find their way here again

Jen, this is the first year that we've had them this long. I have at least two that fight over the feeder right outside my window, and they are there almost from morning til night. I don't know what we've done different, except there are some taller plants in that bed, but they aren't coming after those flowers. I wish I could tell you what to do, it looks like you've tried everything. Are there people around you that have them all summer long?

not that i'm aware of, tig.
oh well, at least the yard is vibrant with all the reds, lol
jen

Hi, MsJen and all!

Check your neighbors...I have a neighbor that has two feeders going all year. So my one hummer that visits my hanging baskets and barrels I really enjoy. A beautiful shiny green.

Your hummers might be fickle and be visiting a neighbor.

MsJen,
The hummers come here in March and leave in mid September..I am also in zone 8..I hate when they leave, always look forward to their return..For 5 years in a row, their return here has been on the same day, and the departure also.. They have great timing built right in, LOL..
Larkie

Jen, it's not just reds that hummers are attracted to. It's the flowers themselves. They are equally enchanted with purple. The flowers need to be somewhat trumpet shaped, and elongated for their beaks. They really love to raid my Cannas, Rose of Sharons, and roses. That's a very different lineage in those......but are they're favorites. We have several different variety of hummers here.

"eyes"

Ruby in Hattiesburg has the ruby throated all year round and the rufous sided ones all winter. She took me to a womans house out in the boonies, no flowers just feeders. She lives in the woods. There were thousands of ruby throated hummers. I really mean thousands. I think she had a hundred feeders. She was filling the feeders constantly.

My neighbors have feeders but I rarely see hummers on them. They usually are at my house getting their fill on flowers. I also saw them on the neighbors hot pink wave petunias. For years I grew some canna, believe they were the 'indian shot' or 'giant Russian' with the tiny red flowers and they were always packed with hummers. I listened to someone and tried leaving them out for the winter. They all died, a row 25' long. I have tons of seeds and may have to make growing them over the winter a major priority.

No wondering.. Do you want to know where your hummingbirds was.. They are all here.. We have so many here right now.. I need to go and put more fresh nectars in 5 feeders.... :) Don't worry I will take care of them...:)

the cardinal vine is starting to really bloom now, i think its time to get the feeders cleaned and hung again..
mini, just send some my way, eh?

We have had as many as seven at two feeders at a time. They are so fast I can't really count how many there really are. Mine are also using the flowers a lot this year, even the cannas. This is my most enjoyable relaxation time.....watching the hummers. Even the day one came up and looked in my glasses. Kind of surprised me, but what fun they can be.

we have a steady 7-8 (hard to count too) that are here every day all day. Right in front of the computer too:) The feeders are just to the right of the front door and it used to take them a long time to come back after we used the door. Not now, they fly all over me when I'm out. And talk their little heads off. I will miss them so much this winter, we never had them all summer and certainly not this many.

I thought I was doing something wrong with my feeder as well. However, I have been seeing hummers all over the yard, mostly at the flowers on the rosemary and buddleia. Seldom at the feeder itself, though. I think I may have it in a place that gets too much sun (warming the nectar) as it's usually just in the early AM or PM that they use the feeder.

Thanks to this forum, which I seldom read, I shall move the feeder into more shade!

darius, don't know the difference, but both mine are in full sun and they are there all day.

tiG... hmmmmm... maybe I don't change the nectar often enough then? (usually every 4 days)

darius, I don't know. I just got lucky this year, we've never had this many before. Mine are emptying out two feeders a day. I wish I knew what I was doing right, but I'm just going to keep on thanking God for my little friends. They chirp at me all the time, and will hover in front of the window when the baby is standing there, and they've just brough so much joy.

I have several in the yard all summer. They love the cestrum and it's yellow. I didn't think they would even notice it. Of course they're after the Lady in Red salvia and the cardinal flower, but they like the hosta flowers too and really go after the cestrum and butterfly bushes.