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Posted: Jul/25/2008 8:28 AM PST
Is anyone from Illinois on this site? I was wondering if we get hummingbirds here. I live in North Aurora which is about an hour west of Chicago. |
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Posted: Jul/25/2008 10:02 AM PST
Hi Gwen ~ there are lots of people from IL on this site. I used to live not that far from you (in Kenosha County, WI) and I got hummingbirds there. Not as many as I get here in KY (filling feeders every day) but enough. Here's the difference. It makes sense to hang feeders here in the south because the nectar is used quickly. When I lived in WI it made MUCH more sense to plant hummer-friendly plants instead. My feeders would never get empty, the nectar would sour, or I would get all the wasps and ants I could ever want. For a pretty neat site on hummingbirds, I like www.mschloe.com/hummer/hummers. There you will find all kinds of answers on these little flying jewels ~ I adore them. |
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Posted: Jul/25/2008 1:17 PM PST
Thanks for the info and link KeeWee. We just bought our house last year and right now I just have hummingbird feeders but next year I would like to create a hummingbird and butterfly garden. I can't wait! Thanks for your response to my sad blog about my puppy. The picture of the dog laying down is the one that passed. Attachments:   |
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Posted: Jul/25/2008 2:38 PM PST
Oh ~ she is a dear! Now you'll just have to love Rodeo twice as much. I am dreading the day when I have to let ours go. We actually had a headstone made for our last one. Can you tell I have no "real" children  ?I hope you get a ton of hummers!! |
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Posted: Jan/18/2009 3:29 PM PST
I am late on the post cuz I am new to site. For future reference, I am 10 minutes from N. Aurora. In 2008, I had ONE hummingbird get curious about the feeder-- then proceeded to pass it by. Later, he had buddies over, but to my weigelia! Loved these shrubs I planted a few years back which bloom & re-bloom. That feeder? Couldn't care less, but they all stayed on for the summer with those bushes.... |
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Posted: Jan/19/2009 4:43 AM PST
Welcome, Bucki! As you can see from my old post ~ you have had the same experience as me when I was in Z5. You are way better off with hummer-friendly plants in your zone. You can go to that site I mentioned and get an idea of the kind of plants they like. In my yard, they love the butterfly bushes. |
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Posted: Aug/27/2009 5:38 AM PST
One of the most important things you can do for hummingbirds in this area is one of the hardest to do. I think it's really a matter of luck, good or bad. If you live on an edge of naturalized woods and are lucky/unlucky enough to have jewel weed growing in the woods give it some space. Jewel weed is the native impatien. It grows about three feet tall and blooms with a small yellow flower in late summer. This is important because it is one of the primary sources of natural food for migrating hummingbirds. It is called Jewel weed because it glows in the morning when the light hits the dew on the leaves. It is unlucky because if you have jewel weed you most likely also have poison ivy. They grow in the same conditions. People used to pull the stem of the jewel weed to rub the sap on poison ivy rash as a cure. I'm not really that old, I read about it in an old book. If you have seen poison ivy, look around for jewel weed and give it some space. It is a kindness. It doesn't mean you will see more birds in your garden all summer, but it will help the travelers. My hummers start around Mother's Day at my Bleeding Hearts. I think they nest in my big old Tulip Tree. They love the bea balm. Visit hosta blossoms a lot. Common annuals like geraniums and impations are popular. But, by far the biggest winner is the Gardenmeister Fucshia. May be hard to find. So worth it. Easy to winter over as a houseplant. Easy to care for. Not bothered with disease like it's fancy cousins. Grows in part sun to shade. I plant Gardenmeister in exactly the same spot every year and every year my birds come back to it. The good news is once you have a hummingbird nest in your yard they come back home to you every summer. Try planting a Gardenmeister by Mother's Day next spring. We have many reports of hummingbirds at feeders here, directly across the state from you. Not the heavy concentrations they get elsewhere if you are in town. Heavier in the rural areas. But, my own experience is they visit the natural foods in my garden the most. I have many, many blooms for them to choose from. But the Gardenmeister is the biggest winner. It never runs dry. One other thing you can do is feed woodpeckers late winter. Hummingbirds follow yellow belly sap suckers and clean up left over tree sap as they migrate north when they can't find blossom food. Enjoy them! Gemma 
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Posted: Sep/07/2009 8:16 AM PST
Teske, I have been thinking about getting a fuchsia gartenmeister next spring, or maybe a thalia because it is supposed to have greener leaves, which I prefer. However, I originally thought I could use it for a hanging basket, but I recently learned these are upright fuchsias. I suppose I could still try one in a basket because the blooms do hang downward. I currently have a dollar princess trailing fuchsia. Some hummers have gone to it quite a bit, but it doesn't have the convenient tubular blooms. |
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