Hummingbird Lures

I have for the most part dedicated my porch to luring hummingbirds. The height is reassuring to them as I have more than 3 cats that lurk my yard. So far I have had both blooms and birds on my Brazilian sage and my anise hyssop. My cypress vines have yet to bloom though they are growing fast. I have not seen any partake of my lantanas but they are pretty and in my temperate climate, not invasive.

 

Things that fly

I really want to know what this insect is. It was on my ichiban(oops, not ichiban, actually my turkish orange eggplant) yesterday and today on a sunflower. Be it friend or foe? I have to know!

Strauzia longipennis
sunflower maggot fly
I had an assist from an internet acquaintance. The site that confirmed it is BugGuide.Net
I found more detailed info about this variety of fruitfly here, North American Insects and Spiders, via wiki. Gotta love the internets! Instant info.

Guess it's bad but it's pretty.

I finally have documentation of hummingbird visits. They come by pretty frequently now, every few minutes, at least at dawn and dusk, rather than once every few days. It is true that salvia guaranitica is a hummingbird magnet. They LOVE it. I think during the day they get scared of people. There is a lot of foot traffic on my street and next door a 6 unit apartment building whose entrance is 15 feet(5 metres for you metric types) from my front door.

I've been obsessed. Last night, as dusk set in and this morning at the crack of dawn I staked them out. The 1st picture is from this morning, the second from last night. I think I used a flash for both.

Porch Chaos and Hops Buds

Here's a window into my porch, my main center of potting and planting. I seem to have an ongoing fight with myself to eliminate small seedling pods. I keep planting things out and then acquiring new plants somehow.

The majority in this 1st image are Siam queen and lemon basil. I was at a nursery in Washington county that had some pots with 50+ seedlings crowded together which I couldn't resist buying and dividing. Most are planted out somewhere.

Next is the front wall. The salvia guaranitica keeps getting bigger so I keep moving the pots next to it further and further away. I think I have it settled now. This black and blue sage is a magnet for hummingbirds. I have seen 3 this past weekend make a beeline for it and spend considerable time feeding at more than a dozen blooms. The cypress vine is starting to climb so I poked bamboo into the planter for them to reach a good height. I hope that it makes a good screen.

Here's my secondary table with some now empty vases. Projects on this table include future bean seedlings. I decided to pod plant them 1st because the cats often disturb bare soil in bad ways(I mostly suspect SALLY). Better to let these get a little bit of growth before placing them in their final spot. There's also a couple black and blue stalks that broke when I poked the bamboo in that I am trying to root. I think I want a planting or 2 on my back porch to better see more hummingbirds.

And finally, the cascade hops are getting ready. It looks like we'll have a lot more than last year. Many of my wild hops are starting to show similar signs. I should be able to sex them soon.

May Blooms

I said before that I have too much chamomile. I have taken to cutting it back and vasing it. Right now I have 4 vases full of chamomile which has been surprizingly cooperative in the vase. Some has started to root, but sadly I do not need anymore.

The Cheddarhead likes to jump up on the wall here and threaten to jump. He is a fine looking cat and actually purred for me yesterday. I think though that he did not purr in pleasure, it was an annoyed purr.

This is an ichiban eggplant bloom. It is growing pretty fast. Unlike the rest of my eggplants, this came in a larger pot and the cost reflected that but I can't complain about its progress. I think it might be weeks until any of my other eggplants bloom.

Here's a slice of South American flowers. Heliotrope and salvia guaranitica are from Peru and Brazil. I talked at length about the salvia, heliotrope has an interesting story too. Unfortunately I can't remember exactly what I heard and google isn't helping me glean much information. There's something about prophetic dreams. If I find a good source of information, I'll link to it. It does have a nice scent. Maybe its story is a little too interesting, if you know what I mean.

This is a rainbow lantana. I never grew them before but I understand that they are lovely and a magnet to butterflies and hummingbirds.

Dawn

This morning I got up as the sun was rising. Unfortunately many photos I took were under exposed but it makes choosing easier.

Today I intend to dig up a large part of my berm. This part, and angle looks pretty nice. I have a few orphan plants that need a home, as well as a couple butterfly bush. I just need to make sure that people understand not to step on some of these plants.

Yarrow is fine with being walked on, as well as chamomile, if anything I should encourage people to walk on my chamomile to keep it in line. I will attempt as well to reduce the grass and various weeds, that is plants that I do not favor.

Maybe next year I will have less chamomile. I imagine that I will not need to propogate it any any manner anywhere next year. This spring, I actually transplanted a lot of seedlings all over. Behind the chamomile is one of my mint pots.

Here's Abe giving me a look. There's but a few sidewalk plants visible here. Honestly, I wish the crack were wider so I could plant something nice, like some thymes and other stepable groundcover plants.

I am very happy with how my porch is filling out. I don't think I need anymore plants up there, indeed, I have moved the pots surrounding my blue planter a couple inches away as the black and blue fills out.

So far, I have my vase offering, a lemongrass I rooted from an Asian grocery (Lotus, if anybody's wondering), a dracula dahlia, and my blue planter, at least that's all you can see. I think the black and blue will get at least twice as tall and much wider. I am waiting quite happily for that. There's also some cypress vine that is still quite small that should be pretty fun too. We'll see if it gets out of hand.

Rainy view from my porch

I love rain. This is a good thing because Pittsburgh gets a lot. Actually, this city is one of the most overcast cities ever, which I also like. Sunlovers can't stand it but I'm not one of them. I like overcast days because I can surf my computer on my porch. So here's a few things I idly photographed from my spacious dry porch.

This vase was an anonymous neighbor's offering. Last year this appeared on my front step one day with a few other ornamental containers. I think there was a geranium too. I fianlly planted it with some stuff more in the 'old lady' style of planting. There's asparagus fern, corkscrew grass and lobelia. These guys aren't perfect potmates but I think they'll get along. The vase does not have drainage but I got it set up with a sort of false bottom. I just have to be careful not to overwater it. It should fill out in a few weeks I guess, at least the lobelia might be blooming by then.

 

I don't know if you've noticed but I am rather fond of blue. This is my blue planting. Almost everything is blooming. The lantana is just opening up, but you can't see it in this photo.

 

Here's my birdfeeder sunflowers. They are directly below the blue planter.

 

This lemongrass I wintered from last year. It doesn't look as glorious as it did, but I think it will. I used some of its withered leave in the tea I am drinking right now. It's very refreshing. The vine is he shou wu.

 

Black and Blue Blooms

Anytime I find myself liking a plant, I want to know more about it. I want to know where it came from, what uses it may have outside of what I am using it for, whether it has any cultural significance to anything. Seriously, there's a lot of history to a lot of seemingly simple plants. I am very interested in new world plants, and this flower, Salvia guaranitica is a new world flower.

The first thing I figured out after purchasing 2 without knowing much, is that it's a great hummingbird plant. Well, I learned things in regard to its cultivation like it gets big. In warm climates it can be invasive but in temperate places like Pittsburgh it has survived some pretty harsh winters. I might try to winter this if I keep liking it. I will opt for retiring it to my coldroom rather than letting it winter outside because otherwise it will probably die. I wanted to know more about it specifically. It has a nice smell. (gets up to let cat inside and to sniff flowers to better describe)It smells like a fruity sage, not like anise to my nose, though I only have smelled 'black and blue'. There are other slight color variations, all I believe are pretty vivid blue.

So it smells pleasant. Is it edible? According to Rose Marie Nichols Magee, in this blog post, Salvia guaranitica Anise Scented Sage, Rose Marie, one of my heroes, the flower at least is edible. Oh good! More snazzy garnishes!

It seems to have been named after the Guarani Indians of Brazil who drank yerba mate before anyone else. They seem to have used the leaves as a sedative. It sounds like this might be more than a little stronger than say chamomile tea so maybe I won't experiment with that.

Anyway, I enjoy this plant more now knowing that it's not just a pretty flower. I hope you enjoyed these pictures showing my first blooms opening up. I am looking forward to more. Don't you like how the flower went from this dark purple/blue to that^^^?

Hummingbird Flowers

I like hummingbirds. I got hooked a few years ago when i lived in a place that seemed an unlikely spot. For some reason I bought a 3 dollar nectar feeder and put it up and lo, there were hummingbirds. Later I found out that there had been a neighbor who fed them in the past. You see, hummingbirds are creatures of habit, which brings me to the present.

Last year I saw a total of 3 hummingbirds in my yard. I had one feeder up but got mad when they didn't show and let it go. This year I have resolved to entice them as much as possible and so far have seen 2. It is early so I think I will see more. What should draw them in more are various flowers that I have planted. I think that they just haven't had a reason to come here but I know a lady just 3 blocks from me that has hordes so I'm sure I can entice them.

Various salvias are excellent. Pineapple sage is highly recommended but in my experience, here in Pittsburgh, it does not bloom until very late when the bird are leaving. This year I decided to try Salvia guaranitica. This is very highly recommended. Below is one of my 'black and blue' plants. I put them in my earthbox on my front porch ledge which last year held broccoli. This plant could become 4 feet tall. We shall see. It was 4 inches tall just a few weeks ago.

What is kinda interesting to me is that hummingbirds are allegedly attracted to blue. I know that they like red, but some say that they, especially western hummingbirds, love blue. This is just the calyx of the flower. It is the black part of the flower. The flower is a vivid blue. I have been waiting for it to bloom since I have planted it. I suppose I could have chosen a pot with blooms already but I subscribe to the belief that's it's better to let your plant grow in a bit before it blooms, whether it's a vegetable or a flower. The calyx is just opening.

This lavender flower is mona lavender swedish ivy. It is an upright plant that likes some shade so I have it on a table on my porch. The flowers do not have much scent but I sampled a flower and found that it has sweet nectar. This was an impulse buy, more expensive, 10 dollars, than most plants I buy but I think it was worth it. Aren't I cheap?

This cypress seedling should have red blooms on a long vine. I also will be planting some scarlet runner beans, but I haven't decided where.

I'd really like to see more people helping hummingbirds out. They aren't just cute. They eat lots of bugs to quote a quote, "Hummers need nectar to power the bug eating machine that they are."
-Bob Sargent

My source is Hummingbird Feeders, a page on HUMMINGBIRDS.NET. That site is very informative.