Lonicera and Bignonia

The coral honeysuckle planted next to the gate is thriving. It only had a few (miserable-looking) flowers last year, but my gardening companion confirmed that it enjoys dry weather (like the last few years), so it's seemingly happy now. Or maybe it just needed to get large enough to be suitably reproductive, which actually is a better explanation.

It made a striking picture coming back to the house as the light was waning.

The Bignonia flowering high up in the old water oak next to the driveway -- the clue was a couple of dropped flowers. Otherwise, we wouldn't have noticed it.

A first hummingbird?

I'm so jealous of my fellow butterfly (and wildlife) gardening enthusiasts and friends in Six Mile, SC.

They've now seen two (!) male ruby-throated hummingbirds, one yesterday, and one today.

I know from the migration maps on Journey North and Hummingbird.net that there have been sightings of first hummingbirds (through today) here in the eastern U.S. as far north as Delaware, Connecticut, and Massachusetts (and in the Central U.S as far as Michigan). But I haven't seen one yet. Hhmrrph.

There are feeders waiting, not to mention coral honeysuckle in full bloom and Eastern columbines, but they'll come. And hopefully, one will attract a female to stick around.

Ready for the last hummingbird

I saw a female ruby-throated hummingbird yesterday, and my gardening companion spotted another as we had lunch today (on the porch).

It's fairly late to see them; last year, it was Oct. 8 for us. And Bill Hilton, at Hilton Pond, reports that their last hummingbird sighting (monitored over a number of years) is Oct. 18.


But I'll leave up the feeders if there are any stragglers, and there are still coral honeysuckle flowers for them.

Coral honeysuckle fruits

Our native coral honeysuckle, Lonicera sempervirens, has beautiful trumpet-shaped flowers, but only produces fruit when cross-pollinated, according to my gardening companion.

a young thriving plant
So now that we have 4 plants - one that's old, frail, and shade-challenged, one doing wonderfully next to the kitchen door, and two young plants that are thriving -- along with hummingbird visits in the spring, there are LOTS of fruit this year.

We had some fruits last year; I collected a few, removed the seeds, and have two small seedlings now to show for it.

rain-kissed fruits

Finally a first hummingbird!

We've been waiting to see our first ruby-throated hummingbird of the season. They start appearing in our area between late March and early April; this map from Hilton Pond's site shows average times of first sightings here in the Eastern U.S. The first male 'scouts' were reported almost a month ago, and my feeders have been up since then.

So, I was delighted to see a hummingbird visiting Carolina jessamine flowers outside my study window yesterday afternoon.

He didn't stay long at them, visiting just a couple; we have coral honeysuckle and red buckeyes currently in flower that are a lot more to their taste, and later I saw him visiting the large coral honeysuckle near the kitchen door. We saw him again this morning and afternoon, visiting flowers and snapping up insects in the red oak.

No sign of any visiting the feeders yet, but I've got three ready and waiting.

I'm hoping one of 'our' males might return to our garden, to stay and set up his territory. There definitely was a family here last year. We have seemingly great habitat for hummingbirds; lots of hummingbird nectar flowers throughout the season, native trees full of small insects to glean, and plenty of cover for nesting.