[TN-Bird] hummer plants

From: "Reese, Carol" <jreese5@xxxxxxx>
To: "tn-bird@xxxxxxxxxxxxx" <tn-bird@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Date: Wed, 23 Mar 2011 19:38:04 +0000
I have found that the hummers arrival seems to always coincide with the bloom 
on the red buckeye.
The Sargents mentioned their Salvia guaranitica, and I cannot recommend that 
plant enough! It is the very favorite of the hummers, and blooms big cobalt 
blue flowers from early summer to fall's first frost. In my area (Chester 
County) it is perennial, and spreads a bit each year by rhizomes. It is a big 
plant, comes up to my armpits, and has a large shrubby habit. One year I took 
some freshly rooted cuttings (it roots ridiculously easy) to put in the green 
house at work, because I did not think these new plants would survive the 
winter outside in a container. This resulted in a pot of salvia in full bloom 
by early spring, so I took it home as soon as I felt like last frost had 
passed. It was a joy to have it already in flower for the very first 
hummingbird arrivals, so I did it again deliberately this year.

You often find the form called 'Black and Blue' in the trade and it is a good 
form, but I like the straight species best. I'm not fond of the form called 
'Argentine Skies'. It is a pale insipid color, runs around spreading widely, 
looking thin and sparse, and isn't a prolific bloomer. 'Van Remsen' is said to 
be a very good form, that may reach up to seven feet in height, but does not 
run. I have yet to grow it. 'Purple Majesty' is a truly purple form, a luscious 
color, but I have not found it to be as hardy.

Another great group of salvias is Salvia greggii. There are many colors and 
cultivars, but the old reliable pink form is the best performer for me.  Most 
salvias are fantastic hummingbird plants. I look for hardy forms and forms that 
bloom all season. A great mail order catalog for salvia is Plant Delights, and 
their website is very good.

Also look for a reblooming form of our native trumpet honeysuckle called 
'Alabama Crimson'. It will flush new flowers all summer long. I hear there are 
other reblooming forms, 'Major Wheeler' and 'Blanche Sandman', but I have not 
grown them.


"There are some who can live without wild things and some who cannot."
- Aldo Leopold<http://www.goodreads.com/author/quotes/43828.Aldo_Leopold>

Carol Reese
Ornamental Horticulture Specialist -Western District
University of Tennessee Extension Service
605 Airways Blvd.
Jackson TN 38301
731 425 4767 email  jreese5@xxxxxxx<mailto:jreese5@xxxxxxx>


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[TN-Bird] hummer plants

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