Hi Hummer lovers,
About eight am while on breeding bird survey at Belle Isle State Park was
watching watching a controlled fire-burned meadow with several very healthy
patches of common milkweed Asclepias syriaca. in full bloom I was astounded to
suddenly see a hummer rise up from a bloom umbel and fly in an angled path back
towards a shrub border.
I have pondered that butterflyweed A. tuberosa is a commonly listed hummer &
butterfly nectar flower. Why not syriaca? Perhaps b/c it is mauve-cream and not
the shout-out-loud flourescent orange of tuberosa? Paula B. asked why she
can't find syriaca at a nursery. I think that this is b/c it is
common....moreover it is four to five feet tall and can overpower a garden's
design; the leaves are large; bugs love to eat the leaves; and the leaves
become an sickly yellow with age. Another minus for the gardener is that it is
pernicious and spreads. It is a "classic weed" to most people. Perhaps the
places for hummer observation have been gardens where people plant the more
well mannered tuberosa and never dream of plantingsyriaca?
Now that I know hummers nectar from it, I have an idea for a native meadow of
it behind our place. I did manage about one quarter acre of common milkweed up
in Maryland. It took ten years. Each fall our visiting school kids doing
butterfly programs with us would gleefully open ripe pods and blow about the
seeds on their parachutes. From only one pioneer plant it inexorably spread
into several plants, then patches and then a solid stand. It outcompeted
goldenrods and grasses. We mowed pathways through it (for easy and
safe-from-ticks observation) and made it a cornerstone of our monarch sanctuary
program.
Juveniles have arrived at our feeders. Our male in back has taken to guarding
the four-port feeder and leaving the eight-port feeder to the juvs. They are
punky!
Today five were nectaring nervously at the eight port feeder. A sixth dropped
like a twitter Stinger scattering the breakfast bunch. While sitting on the
deck at morning breakfast have been buzzed by hummers much more closely in the
past two days. They are not buzzing me intentionally but I think are intent
upon their flight path of ambush and aren't paying enough attention. Need some
juvenile graduated licenses from hummer D.M.V.!
Sincerely,
Fawn Palmer
Westmoreland County
fawnpalmer@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
EarthLink Revolves Around You.
fawnpalmer@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
EarthLink Revolves Around You.
