Firepink (Silene virginica). The first hummers arrive within a day or 2 of the first blooms.

Thanks for the great information, ctn. What is the tree with white blossoms in the background?

I hope some others will have reports to make.

The tree with the white blooms is a Dogwood.

Okay!! That really helps. My dogwoods are just beginning to open buds. Thanks a million.

I'm starting to get cape honeysuckle and bottlebrush. Here are a couple of shots from today.

The honeysuckle:

The bottlebrush is the tree-form one, Callistemon viminalis, and can get to 20' tall. This one is only 2 years old so is still pretty small:

I link to the original pics because Garden Web's resizing algorithm is so bad.

This post was edited by mbrowne on Sun, Apr 20, 14 at 18:34

Your pictures are beautiful, mbrowne. Thanks for sharing them.

I loved bottlebrush when I lived in CA years ago.

Those are really great pictures, mbrowne!

Great pictures! I am seeing hummingbirds daily. They seem to like the flowering quince and the petunias on my porch. I am setting out the feeder today, love them!

I've got a couple new plants blooming.

One buddleia is way ahead of my other two:

The kangaroo paw isn't exactly a favorite, but they use it a bit:

And still have the bottlebrush and lantana going:

New for me this year, I started a cardinal climber. I noticed its first bloom this morning. We'll see how well they like it.

mbrowne, your pictures are simply beautiful. They're as good as any professional pictures I've seen.

Thank you so much!

Thanks! Glad you like them. I have a spot for my morning coffee close to the flowers and feeders. They don't seem to mind at all, and will even come to a feeder I'm holding. Now if they just weren't so FAST!

mbrowne,
Your pictures are just amazing! Would you please share with us your camera you use, and speed etc. They are just exceptional, as well as your beautiful plants!
Debra

Mbrowne

I agree your photos are excellent.

Out here in the mid-west the past winter was quite cruel maybe the worst ever. Everything is super slow coming back that is anything that survived. Other than honeysuckle the only two in ground plants that made it were my two large blue ensign that Ive been growing for several years and still only inches above ground. I basically did a restart and the only things in bloom are plants I found at local nurseries. I also find that this early in the season my hummers are mainly feeder junkies anyway. I have a few hummers my first arriving on april 27th which is right in a given time period for me.

Hummersteve, I'm so sorry your plantings got hit so hard this winter that you have to start over. Your garden was fabulous and I enjoyed the pictures of your huge Blue Ensign salvias.

It was a nasty winter as you say, but my perennials are all up and thriving, all of the June bloomers in fat bud, and some (red columbine and nepeta) in bloom for at least a week already. Mine are not all hummingbird plants, of course.

I can only guess you are north of me, or maybe my yard has a little more protection.

BTW, thanks for all the fabulous pictures and informative posts you have been making for the last couple of years.

Mehitabel

Thanks for your comments glad you enjoyed shots of my garden. Yes I am north of you in the central indy area. My Sal. blue ensign will be up to normal but it will take some time. Now that the ground is warming up they should move a little faster. The only reason they survived I feel is because their root system is rather massive. I will try and post photos later on once my garden gets up.

From Debrambrowne,Your pictures are just amazing! Would you please share with us your camera you use, and speed etc. They are just exceptional, as well as your beautiful plants!

Thanks. I have lots of fun catching them. I use a Canon Rebel T2i. I usually shoot at 1/2000 at f/8. It's important to get close and have the sun at a good angle.

Love all the hummer pics!

This morning I finally saw a female ruby coming to our fragrant 'Scentsation' honeysuckle. I've read that Lonicera periclymenum attracts them but have never seen it until today. :)

-Robert

Hey, Robert! We are sharing a mind here. I planted two of these this year on my deck posts.

Glad to hear it really is fragrant and that hummers like it.

Thanks for sharing.

Haha. No problem.
I'm glad you've got some as well!
I remember you used to post in the fragrant forum all the time so I figured you most surely still be growing some fragrant things. ;)
It's nice to know that we can enjoy the fragrance and the hummers can enjoy the blooms!
Looks like my 'Serotina' died over the winter but I've still got 'Peaches and Cream' and 'Sweet Tea' along with 'Scentsation'.
Would still like to try 'Serotina' again since its blooms are so gorgeous and of course their color would help to attract hummers.

-Robert

mbrowne,
That cape honeysuckle is beautiful as are your photos. Is this the name of the variety of honeysuckle? I would love to find one for sale somewhere.

From cindip:That cape honeysuckle is beautiful as are your photos. Is this the name of the variety of honeysuckle? I would love to find one for sale somewhere.Thanks for the compliment :) Glad you like the shots. The cape honeysuckle is Tecoma capensis, and a different family than the actual honeysuckle. I think these are tougher and and can deal with drier, hotter conditions.

Thank you for the info mbrowne. I need to see if I can find one online to buy.