Tuesday, August 10, 2010

Hummingbirds are welcome here

Every year we strive for a hummingbird-friendly yard!
We put out the welcome flag...
and we choose our hanging baskets with care.
They seem to like petunias...
who doesn't?
We tried a designer begonia this year!
Verbena is always good...
as are geraniums.
The neighbors gave us these little flirts.
We sowed wildflower seed and planted pansies...
and daisies a friend gave us (thanks, C)!
Lemon Gem marigolds and cucumber blooms call to them from the garden.
But our secret weapon...
 the one that never fails...
is the cypress vine!
Perhaps this little fence-sitter is overwhelmed?
We do all this on the off chance that...
if we're lucky, in our yard...
life will imitate art!
Original from which the above was cropped:
A very lucky series of shots, esp. as it was through the glass of a door I dared not open!

12 comments:

Jayne said...

Awwww... love seeing all the Hummers enjoying a well planned garden!

Argent said...

You have a lovely range of plants there - no wonder they come!

Carolina Linthead said...

I don't know about well planned, Jayne! It kind of started that way, but my squash plants have sprawled out of their raised bed, where they have been smothering my banana pepper plants to near extinction, and into one of my elephant ear plants, which in turn has shaded the verbena, making it very unhappy.

The cypress vines are totally out of control now, attacking the elephant ear from the other side, climbing up the door frame on the side of the garage, etc. Our lone cucumber vine had threatened to take over the neighborhood, but now it has some sort of powdery mildew that is killing it...meh, I didn't like them much, anyway.

Out front, the daisies are well past their peak, the wildflowers have grown into a tangled mess (kind of like my hair), and the pansies are mostly done, after a long, lovely season. In short, watch for us on the next episode of "Gardens Gone Wild!" Of course this is precisely why the hummers love the place...it reminds them of the Yucatan's jungles, lol!

Me, given to hyperbole? No! I have fairly spectacular tomato plants, btw...for now :-)

NanU said...

gotta love a guy who blogs about flowers.

Ann T. said...

Dear C.L.
I had a butterfly garden. This was also fun, but it was not nearly as spectacular as what you have. Wow!

But my point, ah . . . we planted coneflower and things that they like. The caterpillars ate them so our garden was shabby too. I think a certain amount of Yucatan is necessary to get the star flyers!

Lovely pix and lovely garden.
Thanks for sharing!
Ann T.

Gerry Snape said...

Magic! and jealous! though there was a squirrel sitting on my couch when I went to look for my yellow shoes...but not sure if that could compete with humming birds!Lovely.

Sam Liu said...

Oh wow, those photographs are really beautiful. Such colour and vibrancy. And the hummingbird picture is great, what a fantastic shot. I have only ever seen a hummingbird once, they truly are the most wonderful birds.

Carolina Linthead said...

Thanks, y'all! Glad you enjoyed. We have a Nikon D5000, 12.3 mp, with a couple of multi-purpose Nikkor VR zoom lenses, 18-55 mm and 55-200 mm. We shoot at highest quality, always, because you never know when you might want to crop a pic to emphasize something in it, such as a hummingbird. That last shot tells the tale. I'll upload the original so you can see how much I cropped.

Bekah said...

We have one of those vines, a gift from a friend. I didn't know what it was called, so now I do! Maybe next year it will attract some friends...

Kimberly Mason said...

Yay! love the hummingbirds.

Reya Mellicker said...

Welcome to the galaxy of blogging! So glad you are "here" with the rest of us. The water is fine, right? I say YES.

Lovely pics.

Suz said...

I understand your wanting to tempt hummingbirds to your humble abode..they are a mystery that zooms by so fast that you aren't sure you saw what you saw..but you did! Cypress vine...I'll have to try that...Love your dip into blogland..now to go and check out more