Meanwhile, it's not like they are lacking pollen and nectar. I have 3 of the best hummingbird feeders I have yet found and several butterfly bushes are blooming now with various butterflies feeding at them.
Speaking of hummingbird feeders, I was so pleased to discover how easy it is to make the "nectar". When I started doing it decades ago, the rule was to boil water, set a cup of it in a pyrex cup rinsed with vinegar, add 1/4 sugar, stir til dissolved, cool it, and add it to the freshly cleaned (no soap) feeders. The boiling was to make the sugar-water supersaturated so it wouldn't crystalize out when it cooled. So the instructions I had learned said...
When I mentioned it on a gardening site, I was corrected by many posters. They said the sugar dissolved just fine in merely hot water and was ready to go at outside temperature. Checking hummingbird sites confirmed that.
Wow, did that make things easier! And if you don't think there are hummingbirds around your yard, try setting up a few feeder stations and they will appear.
BTW, the best feeders I have found are "Hum-Zingers" .
Funny story: I never saw hummingbirds when I moved here. But when I bought my first hummer feeder and stood around outside looking for place to hang it, a hummingbird came to it IN MY HAND and fed! They are around; most people just don't know it.
Meanwhile, the daylilies are doing great! I had a bunch of them in pots and ignored them for 2 years, finally planting them last Fall. I didn't remember how many colors they had!
2 comments:
I boil the water first with the sugar...4 cups water to 1 cup sugar, as that helps it "keep" a little longer in the fridge waiting and outside. But whatever you like is best for you.
We boil the water, too, only we use the microwave. Once it's boiling, we add the sugar and stir. Takes about 4 minutes. We've read that the boiling helps in ridding the water from any potential impurities that might harm the hummers.
Post a Comment