In article . net,
"Jayebea" wrote:

I know, I know, I have to watch out for those typos!

Thanks for reminding me of winter dormancy. As for the Penstemon, there was
no other identifying label on the tags. These are supposed to grow about
18"-24", have spikes of flowers about 6" long (reds, blues, etc. on
diffferent plants). Indeed until the temperature dropped, I had quite a
few spikes and the hummingbirds loved them.

Judy

A couple years back I had only a few things the hummingbirds really liked,
not nearly enough to keep them interested in my garden. They'd buzz
through looking for preferred flowers, rejecting rhodies, finding the
trumpet vine apparently bereft of nectar, then leave. But I built up quite
a large array of perennials that keep them hanging around, honeysuckles,
sages & hyssop bushes, bee balms, a wonderful array of trumpet-shaped
flowers. But of everything they like, it really does seem the penstemons
are their favorite. They check out & sample everything they can get their
beaks into, but they always return to penstemons, so I assume they produce
a whopping lot of nectar.

Hummingbirds were not originally native to Puget Sound, but extended their
range voluntarily, due mainly to the human activity of gardening. Humans
usually either introduce new animal species where they don't belong, or
push species out into smaller & smaller habitat, mucking up nature left &
right. But the hummingbirds actually like us & have on their own extended
their range to be around more of us.

My garden often appears in my dreams. Last night while dreaming, I was
watching one-inch-long pale white birds that were part hummingbirds, part
birds-of-paradise, with filament-thin lyre tails & cranes wings, drinking
nectar from the dangling flowers of vines. In the dream I first mistook
them for pollinating moths, then realized they were extremely tiny birds.

(I love horror stories & horror cinema & enjoy a good nightmare so long as
it isn't the one about hiding in a ditch from a rapist, or a loved one
dying, but I haven't had a good nighmare in months. I think the garden
overwhelms & defeats all the dark inputs I provide the subconscious.)

Meanwhile in the waking world, a small hawk (I think a merlin but young
hawks look alike to me) landed on top of our main birdfeeder two days ago.
I was sitting in the window so it was less than ten feet away & I sat
perfectly still so it wouldn't leave. It looked me straight in the eyes,
I'm sure it knew I was there, & didn't care so long as I didn't move. But
Granny Artemis wanted to see it & it finally flew off as she was sneaking
up. It was so hauntingly beautiful. Though its presence could be sad news
for a few birds, it seemed a lot more pleasing that a hawk should visit
the bird feeder than when the neighbors' cats do likewise. Haven't yet
seen it return, so might've just been passing through.

But, to return to penstemons. I had penstemons blooming up to November,
mainly the most garden-hardy cultivars like "Sour Grapes" "Ruby" &
"Garnet." Plus bright evergreen leaves even now, a few young leaves I
harvest to fry in butter with eggs, otherwise no trimming all winter, it's
a wonderful green winter presence. But the "Midnight Blue" penstemon
didn't bloom late; it got very homely by winter, so I cut it back; it has
already grown back though. Some penstemons don't seem ever to be quite
dormant ever, but others are more sensitive. "Prairie Dust" died down to
basal leaves late in autumn, so there's quite a variation of behavior from
one cultivar or hybrid to the next. None are blooming anew quite yet, but
there are buds all over the "Garnet" & "Sour Grapes", so they have a
headstart on spring & could have color any day now (I haven't checked yet
today). Some of the pink canterbury bell campanulas planted with the
penstemons also bloomed up to winter, though others of the same variety
(plus some blue canterburies) were dying back by then. I eventually cut
most of their stems back since they were so scruffy with dead bits, but
one remained green enough I decided not to trim it, & that one is already
in full bloom here at the end of January, on last year's stalks. Makes me
think I shouldn't've cut any of them back, or they might all be blooming
early, but it might really just be something about that one specimen since
it never showed any sign of dying back & the others did. White & blue
peachbells never stopped blooming, though sometimes there was only one
feeble bloom at a time in the coldest weeks, but even with blooms they
didn't look tidy & green like the garnet & sour grapes penstemons; the
peachbell leaves were dying back while simultaneously they kept blooming
at least a little. Probably should've cut those stems back & not let them
waste energy blooming out of season, but it was too cool they kept
blooming so I let them.

-paghat the ratgirl

--
"Of what are you afraid, my child?" inquired the kindly teacher.
"Oh, sir! The flowers, they are wild," replied the timid creature.
-from Peter Newell's "Wild Flowers"
See the Garden of Paghat the Ratgirl: http://www.paghat.com/