HUMMERS
A few years ago I planted a packet of morning glory seeds in the narrow pocket of earth between the driveway and the trellising that hides the foundation of our house. I have done nothing to encourage them since, but they have reseeded and come up faithfully every year. The variety is ‘Grandpa Ott’s,’ famous in gardening circles because it is the heirloom seed that launched the Seed Savers’ Exchange in Decorah, Iowa, and by extension the whole heirloom seed craze. Those of you who now enjoy abundant harvests of heirloom tomatoes or squash have ‘Grandpa Ott’ to thank for the bounty.
‘Grandpa Ott’s bears trumpet-shaped purple blooms with reddish purple stars in the throats. Each bloom lasts only a day, but during that time the trumpets open wide in the light. When the still-agile ‘Grandpa Ott’ clambers up the eight feet of trellising covered with scores of flowers, it is an inspiring sight. At the top of the trellising ‘Grandpa’ reaches out, grabs the porch spindles and keeps right on going, eventually surging over the railing and onto the porch. Occasionally the vines get rambunctious and try to suffocate nearby potted plants in a twining green embrace. Since ‘Grandpa’ only knows one way of operating–domination–I clip off the obstreperous tendrils. The vines go right on as if the clippers were imaginary.
The best thing about ‘Grandpa Ott’ is that it grows right outside the kitchen door so it is the first thing I see every morning. It is patronized by bees and butterflies and most recently, by a hummingbird. While doing the lunch dishes a couple of Saturdays ago I thought I saw something moving amidst the flowers. I looked closer and saw a female ruby throated hummingbird, dining on the nectar in the morning glory blooms. She flitted from flower to flower and eventually rested for a few minutes on the nearby telephone wire. It is the first time I have ever seen a hummingbird at rest.
This is not the first hummingbird of the year, but usually the bird or birds patronize the butterfly bush on the other side of the yard. I watch them from a distance and, like everyone else, marvel at their diminutive size and speedy flight. Somehow seeing one sit quietly is an even greater marvel.
Morning glories are one of the vining species on the list of “hummingbird plants” published on the hummingbirds.net website. My ‘Grandpa Ott’s is purple, a high visibility colors that attracts the tiny birds. Subsequent sitings of “my” hummingbird in the same place confirm the website’s assertion that the birds follow regular routes to food supplies.
I have made my garden to please myself, rather than to attract specific kinds of wild creatures like butterflies or hummingbirds. However, many of the plants I like are also important to a wide variety of pollinating insects, not to mention birds and the less desirable deer and groundhogs. I am pleased that even though I have taken out the troublesome trumpet vine–another hummer favorite–I still have many plants that the birds can chose from. In my garden they might conceivably browse favorites like agastache, which sometimes goes by the common name “hummingbird mint,” columbine, foxglove, penstemon, fuchsia, salvia, weigela and flowering quince. I garden organically, so there are no man-made chemicals around to harm them. We also have lots of protective cover, water in the birdbaths and an appreciative audience–my husband and me–willing to keep a respectful distance. All we have to add is a glucose-filled feeder and we will have created a hummingbird spa.
“My” hummingbird has probably had an eventful spring and summer, consorting briefly with some male and laying eggs in a tiny nest. She raised her chicks as a single mother, since the males do not participate in the care and feeding of their offspring. Once the young hummers were fledged and on their own, she began the process of fattening herself up for the annual migration. I haven’t seen the hummingbird for several days now. She may already have left on the long journey to her winter digs in Mexico or Central America.
In a few more weeks, frost will come and ‘Grandpa Ott’s morning glories will close up shop for the season. I always leave the vines on the trellising so the seeds will fall back to earth, ensuring that a number of young plants will begin the upward climb again next spring. The hummingbird knows nothing of this, of course, but I hope she returns to see them.