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  • NKBJ

    at the ark
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    Apr 21, 2010
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    Was just sitting in the back porch swing with May Bell.
    The hummingbirds were hitting the flowering plants and the feeders, taking turns on who chases who, cork screwing through the porch and every which way across the yard, inviting each other to fun runs.
    They'll go south soon and I'm a'gonna miss 'em.
     

    churchmouse

    I still care....Really
    Emeritus
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    Dec 7, 2011
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    Speedway area
    That is so cool. We have a few here but admit we do not keep up on the feeders.
    We have laid out plans to make a new bed to plant flowers that attract these birds.
    Looking on line at what works. Any suggestions will be greatly appreciated and sorry if this jacks the thread.
     

    NKBJ

    at the ark
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    Apr 21, 2010
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    They're on the lavender this evening and another set of tall plants that are plumb weird (I don't know what the seeds packets said but the little boogers love 'em).
    They love the bee balm, too. It's hardy, comes back in spring and it's invasive (a good thing as far as I'm concerned!).
     

    maxwelhse

    Grandmaster
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    Aug 21, 2018
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    Michiana
    My mother also refers to Humming Birds as "hummers", which makes for an incredibly awkward conversation...

    FWIW, my mom just has those plastic plant looking feeders, puts sugar water in them every week or so, and maybe 1 or 2 potted plants that attract them. She gets so many Humming Birds visiting that it's practically boring, and they're almost tame. It's not at all unusual to be standing within a foot of one. It was the same thing when they lived in the city too.
     

    churchmouse

    I still care....Really
    Emeritus
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    187   0   0
    Dec 7, 2011
    191,809
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    Speedway area
    They're on the lavender this evening and another set of tall plants that are plumb weird (I don't know what the seeds packets said but the little boogers love 'em).
    They love the bee balm, too. It's hardy, comes back in spring and it's invasive (a good thing as far as I'm concerned!).

    Thanks. That is a start.

    Would love to know what the plumb weird ones are.
     

    NKBJ

    at the ark
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    Apr 21, 2010
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    Will make a note to take a picture tomorrow. Looks like they are putting on seeds too.
     

    NKBJ

    at the ark
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    Apr 21, 2010
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    Just fer grins the other day I heated up and twisted and pulled the barrel of a hotel ball point pen into a trim-able point and pushed a colored piece of plastic "flower" on it. Made the flower out of an old piece of vinyl blinds and magic markers of color.
    The idea was to sit on the back porch and have fun feeding them by hand. Put the contraption out there for a test with nectar in it to see if they'd try it out and they drained it dry. Been busy so haven't made use of the contraption. Could be a riot with May Bell sitting there.
     

    DCR

    Sharpshooter
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    Oct 6, 2009
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    Anything red, although they'll also get nectar from others. Red canna, red bee balm, red trumpet vine, rose of sharon are their favorites in my yard. They may also like butterfly bush, although I don't have one. I've seen them on daylilies, in fact that's where I first noticed them in my yard 25 yrs ago. It's nice if you can plant flowers that bloom at different times. I've even seen them on red impatiens. Oh also hostas that have those huge white blooms in August. August Moon would be a good variety. Also red geraniums.

    Cleaning feeders --
    I always rinse my feeders before putting new juice in them. Also pitch the cloudy stuff. I've got some teeny brushes that clean the spouts. About every 10 days or so I'll clean the feeders. 1/2 tsp of grits and some water, shake well, will clean out any black gunk in the glass part. If they get really bad, I'll bring them all in at night and put them in the sink with hot water and several denture cleaner tablets. Scrub with a toothbrush and rinse well. At the end of the season I scrub them up with denture cleaner and toothbrush and put them in the dishwasher, again rinse real well.
     

    Mongo59

    Master
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    Jul 30, 2018
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    Purgatory
    Back in the '90's I had a Homelite chainsaw they would try to take out of my hand because it was red.

    Don't have as much trouble with the Stihl tho...
     
    Rating - 100%
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    Oct 3, 2008
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    On a hill in Perry C
    You need to feed that poor lil kitty. Poor thing looks half starved! :):

    Wish we could get a good mess of hummers around here. Had a few earlier this year but all but a couple disappeared. Got 2 feeders out so there should e plenty of juice for them. Did see one sitting on the seed feeder last week eyeballing the sunflower seeds. :scratch:
     

    eldirector

    Grandmaster
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    Apr 29, 2009
    14,677
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    Brownsburg, IN
    Butterfly Bush and the leftover Impatients keep them busy here. Xenias, too.

    BTW: they aren't playing. Vicious little buggers, they are. Very territorial.
     

    NKBJ

    at the ark
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    Apr 21, 2010
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    Closer shot, contrast adjusted for the morning sun...

    The seed pods, the white flowers and the pinky purple flowers are the same plant.
     

    DoggyDaddy

    Grandmaster
    Site Supporter
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    73   0   1
    Aug 18, 2011
    102,084
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    Southside Indy
    Closer shot, contrast adjusted for the morning sun...

    The seed pods, the white flowers and the pinky purple flowers are the same plant.

    That's called cleome (clay-oh-me). I have a ton of it every spring. I pull all but one or two little clumps and it still winds up all over the yard. Neat looking, but majorly invasive.
     
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