Date: 05/20/2019

Number: 8

Surrounded :) 5:45 AM hummers appear at feeders around the house and perch on small braniches next to their feeders when not nectaring. Yesterday stromy with strong rains. This morning: 47 degrees; winds 10 to 20 mph, with frost / freeze warnings for tonight.

A few more flowers are available: dogwood trees, domestic honeysuckle, mass plantings of Dicentra Luxuriant.

Wild honeysuckle: forming buds may bloom in 2 more weeks (?)

Vast area of wild inpatients that are appearing in the low, moist, areas north and east of the house. These will provide a plethora of naural nectaring opportunities later this summer. Image shows tiny wild impatient plants emerging on the moist, forest floor.

I always plant “hummingbird fodder” in masses; and encourage others to seek native perennials for their hummingbird habitat. Visually, this approach is aesthetically pleasing; and it’s easier for hummers to nectar when plants are planted in masses. Plants that are conducive to this approach / effect: Dicentra Luxuriant (which emerges from the ground with beautiful, pink, flowers in May—and if planted in ideal conditions will bloom until frost in zone 5b), Digitalis grandiflora (perennial yellow foxglove that self seeds) and Nepeta, “Walker’s Low” catmint. All three species thrive in light soil with good drainage, they will not enjoy nor thrive in heavy clay soil.

Sanford, MI

Latitude: 43.7 Longitude: -84.4

Observed by: Tilly
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