Florida humming birds

Trish, I have also noticed a lack of butterflies this year. Normally they are all over my garden. This year I have seen very few.

Blame it on the hurricanes.

the only thing the butterflies seem to like so far this year is an orange cosmos. they fight over it! i dont even know what kind it is.

Since March, I've had hummers that fight over the feeders, but they tend to not fight over the plants - they luv the powder puff, jatropha, salvias and the cupheas.

I've noticed that I have lots of dragon flies this year.

Just this weekend have noticed an increase in butterflies - of all the plants I have = they seem to prefer the lantanas and porterweed the most. Still don't have as many butterflies as in the past years though.

Molly --

Pretty blossoms on your Hummingbird vine. :)

Sue

Sue,

Thank you, only thing missing are the hummingbirds. They don't know where to find me, I'm sure.

I'm hoping they will be flying over and see the pretty red and stop over to see what they are, then discover food!

Molly
:^)))

Molly,

The Cypress Vine is a hummingbird favorite, and when you get more blooms, and that will be soon, because this is a very prolific grower, you'll see the hummers all over.

I have them in different areas of my gardens, and I do have to keep watch, as they will pop up everywhere.

My hummers are still attracted mostly to the bottlebrushes, firstly, then to the Cypress Vine!

I'll try and capture a picture at dusk.

Gracie

grakay --

"I do have to keep watch, as they will pop up everywhere."

Is is a real effort to stop it spreading too much...weekly, monthly...?

Soozer,

No, it isn't a real effort. I actually sort of chuckle when I see a new one sprouting.

Actually, anytime I am gardening, and I see one that has left its seat, so to speak, I pull them, and toss in the compost bin.

Very easy to monitor!

Gracie

I had my first hummer visit last week! I didn't get to see it, but Christina was up early for work and watched it feeding on the Cypress Vine (Ipomoea quamaclit) or possibly on another vine with similar red trumpet flowers but which has heart shaped leaves. Anyone know what vine that could be? I can't find any means or words to search to turn up a pix of it in the Plant Files. I continue to add every red flower I can find to the hummingbird garden.

My Mom had hummingbirds every year at her place in Jacksonville. It was my job to change the nectar in the feeder when I went over to her house for Sunday dinners. The feeder was hung under the eave of her house directly in front of the dining room window. The hummers came on an hourly basis, sometimes 2 or 3 at a time.

I never have a shortage of butterflies of all varieties. A friend that specializes in identifying and photographing butterflies once counted about 20 different varieties in about 15 minutes at my garden. Bidens alba "radiata" (Spanish Needles) is apparently a favorite butterfly nectar source. The plant wants to cover every square inch of my garden!! I leave some of the Bidens growing deliberately for the butterflies in the very backs of my flowerbeds. It grows and blooms elsewhere all over my yard faster than I can pull it up. I also have lots of pentas and other nectar plants. My Passiflores vines have a cluster of Fritillaries throughout the day, dabbing away at the vines and the fence in what I presume is egg laying behavior.

MzMunch, could you share your formula and instructions for making the hummingbird nectar for your feeder? Or do you use the packaged powdered hummingbird food? That is an amazing photo with so many hummers!! They obviously like what you are feeding them. Now that I've actually had a confirmed hummer visit to my garden, I will go back to filling and hanging the feeder, but I've never been certain of the best formula and methods of preparing the nectar.

Jeremy