{"id":273,"date":"2011-09-26T04:07:36","date_gmt":"2011-09-26T12:07:36","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/garden\/?p=273"},"modified":"2015-11-24T07:32:34","modified_gmt":"2015-11-24T15:32:34","slug":"hummers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/hummers\/","title":{"rendered":"Hummers"},"content":{"rendered":"

HUMMERS
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\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/strong>A few years ago <\/strong>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.\u00a0 I have done nothing to encourage them since, but they have reseeded and come up faithfully every year.\u00a0 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.\u00a0 Those of you who now enjoy abundant harvests of heirloom tomatoes or squash have ‘Grandpa Ott’ to thank for the bounty.
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 ‘Grandpa Ott’s bears trumpet-shaped purple blooms with reddish purple stars in the throats.\u00a0 Each bloom lasts only a day, but during that time the trumpets open wide in the light.\u00a0 When the still-agile ‘Grandpa Ott’ clambers up the eight feet of trellising covered with scores of flowers, it is an inspiring sight.\u00a0 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.\u00a0 Occasionally the vines get rambunctious and try to suffocate nearby potted plants in a twining green embrace.\u00a0 Since ‘Grandpa’ only knows one way of operating–domination–I clip off the obstreperous tendrils.\u00a0 The vines go right on as if the clippers were imaginary.\u00a0
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 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.\u00a0 It is patronized by bees and butterflies and most recently, by a hummingbird.\u00a0 While doing the lunch dishes a couple of Saturdays ago I thought I saw something moving amidst the flowers.\u00a0 I looked closer and saw a female ruby throated hummingbird, dining on the nectar in the morning glory blooms.\u00a0 She flitted from flower to flower and eventually rested for a few minutes on the nearby telephone wire.\u00a0 It is the first time I have ever seen a hummingbird at rest.\u00a0
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 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.\u00a0 I watch them from a distance and, like everyone else, marvel at their diminutive size and speedy flight.\u00a0 Somehow seeing one sit quietly is an even greater marvel.
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Morning glories are one of the vining species on the list of “hummingbird plants”\u009d published on the hummingbirds.net website.\u00a0 My ‘Grandpa Ott’s is purple, a high visibility colors that attracts the tiny birds.\u00a0 Subsequent sitings of “my”\u009d hummingbird in the same place confirm the website’s assertion that the birds follow regular routes to food supplies.
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 I have made my garden to please myself, rather than to attract specific kinds of wild creatures like butterflies or hummingbirds.\u00a0 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.\u00a0 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.\u00a0 In my garden they might conceivably browse favorites like agastache, which sometimes goes by the common name “hummingbird mint,”\u009d columbine, foxglove, penstemon, fuchsia, salvia, weigela and flowering quince.\u00a0 I garden organically, so there are no man-made chemicals around to harm them.\u00a0 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.\u00a0 All we have to add is a glucose-filled feeder and we will have created a hummingbird spa.
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 “My”\u009d hummingbird has probably had an eventful spring and summer, consorting briefly with some male and laying eggs in a tiny nest.\u00a0 She raised her chicks as a single mother, since the males do not participate in the care and feeding of their offspring.\u00a0 Once the young hummers were fledged and on their own, she began the process of fattening herself up for the annual migration.\u00a0 I haven’t seen the hummingbird for several days now.\u00a0 She may already have left on the long journey to her winter digs in Mexico or Central America.
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 In a few more weeks, frost will come and ‘Grandpa Ott’s morning glories will close up shop for the season.\u00a0 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.\u00a0 The hummingbird knows nothing of this, of course, but I hope she returns to see them.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

HUMMERS \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 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.\u00a0 I have done nothing to encourage them since, but they have reseeded and come up faithfully every year.\u00a0 The variety is ‘Grandpa … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6,3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-273","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-general-interest","category-summer"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/273","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=273"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/273\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1518,"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/273\/revisions\/1518"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=273"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=273"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=273"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}