Flowerbeds

The newer flowerbeds are doing great.  I never imagined the meadow bed would look so good (last year was dismal, but the flowers were just getting established).

The Hummer etc bed is doing good for a first year with annuals and should be better next year when the perennials and self-sowing annuals get going.

I'm not seeing the hummers/butterflies yet, but the bees are busy.  The Summer has just started, and I expect more flowers to bloom there that the hummers and the butterflies will like.

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" .

Easy to clean, easy to fill, and the birds love it.  And I have no connection to the company.  They don't know I exist.

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!

I might get really into those...

Busy As Bees We Is, Part 4

The last post in this series is the Hummingbird/Bee/Butterfly Garden.

I have this 10' diameter edged area I intended for one plant but it spreads through seeds elsewhere.  Lysymachia Firecracker is an EVIL plant!  I am seeking to kill it before it spreads further.  Herbicide is not out of the question though I try to stay organic.  It doesn't die being scraped off at ground level; apparently, I'll have to dig each and every one out deeply.

But that left the place it was intended for.  So I bought some individual hummingbird, butterfly and bee seed mixes.  The flowers can grow in the medium soil I have, but want a good soil for germinating.  And they do best without much weed competition.

I have a big rototiller.  But it doesn't work very well in small areas or with a lot of grass roots.  So last year, I bought a little electric tiller.  It won't get more than a few inches deep. but it is light and I can hold it in place over stubborn weeds to grind down below the roots.

I'm a few days behind the actual events, but a few days ago, I dragged it out and used it in the bed.  I went north/south once and east/west once.  Then I dragged it backwards along the inside edge of the plastic edging.  I raked out most of the rocks and dumped two 5 gallon buckets of rocks along the fenceline (well, they have to go "somewhere").

Then I spread 1/2" of 50/50 compost/topsoil mix on the raked surface.  After that, I spread the hummingbird, butterfly and bee seed mixes on the surface and added another 1/8" loose soil on top.  Moistened the whole area with a mister nozzle (to not move the seeds).

Can't wait to see what grows!

More on Hummers

I occurred to me today, re-reading my last post about the hummer, that there was more I wanted to say about these delightful little things.  While I have a feeder back by the toolshed (so they won't be disturbed much), I get the most enjoyment from them at the feeder that hangs under the house eave at the deck door.

They visit that one often.  When I can stand still just inside the house for long enough, I am often rewarded with a close-up view of them feeding.  They can see through the glass doors, and if I move, they leave.  They are brave for wild birds, but 2' away is too close.  So I have to remain very still and become part of the furniture background.

I've had a few opportunities to get pictures of them at that feeder. 

I don't try too often, but it is nice to have some close pictures.  Maybe I will get one hovering some day...

Hummingbird Encounter

Many years ago, when I put out my first hummingbird feeder as an experiment (never having seen a hummingbird around the yard), I was stunned to find a hummingbird attempting to get at the feeder as I stood deciding where to hang it.  That certainly answered any questions I had about whether there were hummers around the yard and whether they adapted to feeders easily.

I have enjoyed my hummers every year since, having between 3 and 5 hummers in the yard.  One year I even found a tiny nest in a 6' cedar sapling I was about to remove.  The cedar remains there to this day, about 15' tall now.  If the hummers like to nest there, I sure won't bother it.

Well, today, I had a replication of the original experience.  I regularly provide new nectar every 2-3 days.   I was carrying a fresh feeder out to the back toolshed and lifting it toward the hanger  when a hummer came by anxious to feed from it!

It whirrred around the feeder and looked at me from 10,000 different directions.  So there I was, standing there like the Statue of Liberty, holding the feeder as motionless as I could.  It finally chickened out and went to the salvias (which they love).  I gratefully hung the feeder up and took the long way around the garden so as not to pass near the salvias. 

It was a rare moment, and one that I will cherish.