That first one seems so precious, so special, such an astonishing jewel…

..the second is even better, since it proves the first was not a fluke, and you feel inner satisfaction at having Done Something Right…

…the third through six hundredth, though, start getting to be a pain in the ass, fight each other incessantly, act like members of six different biker gangs gathering at your joint for a rumble. And they will suck a feeder of less than oil-refinery-tank proportions dry in about three days.

Which is my way of thanking you for reminding me of the subject since I peer around the monitor to find that yes, indeed, the goddamn thing is dry yet again despite having been filled on Saturday.

[/grump]

still, i love parties with bikers, and i love mobs of hummingbirds at my doorstep. sugar is cheap. LB should get a feeder or two, and enjoy the rabble.

there is nothing like that sound they make, buzzing about. it’s spooky and funny and neato, all at the same time. it reminds me of ancient insects which were of even greater size.

They take their bikes and their leathers and their buzzing elsewhere until I’m good and ready to fill the feeder again!

No authoritarians were tortured in the writing of this post.

Now, I need to get some trumpet vines, maybe, instead of just a feeder.

try trumpet honeysuckle instead of trumpet vine (avoid the Japanese honeysuckle which is extreeeeeemely invasive) Trumpet vine works but can become invasive too, although there are some more easily managable, less aggressive, varieties available.

put up multiple feeders - hummingbirds are territorial… they won’t fight so much if there are several feeders placed in different locations around a house. I fill 5 feeders in 5 different locations. Still plenty of cool airborne dogfights to watch but they don’t seem to run each other off as much if they all have their own corner of the yard refueling base to return to.

*

And does it work in part shade? I have my (single) feeder where I can see it from my computer, and where I can open the window, reel it in, and refill it without going up on ladders. No point sparking dogfights if I can’t see them!

No authoritarians were tortured in the writing of this post.

zone six in ME? fuck me.

Actually, zone 5a. Oopsie.

No authoritarians were tortured in the writing of this post.

Terrific little bit of data collection there, although a mere 10 years seems awfully short (I’m pretty sure Maine has been settled longer than that, although I will check my Joshua Chamberlain biographies to make certain.) And the most recent data being over 20 years old? Wassup wit dat?

That being what we have to work with though, both the map and their advice suggests even 5a is somewhat optimistic. Your local data collection center is at the airport and those are notorious for being “microclimates” of extreme unreality. Acres and acres of paved- or built-over land, much of it in asphalt or black roofing materials, plus massive energy generation from burning airplane fuel, plus generation of much particulate matter from said fuel…all combine to make an airport an unreal environment. Effect is to make temperatures there much higher than would be the case if there were no airport present.

But airports live on weather data the way intensive care units live on heart monitors. So their data gets put into the overall stream, distorting the reliability for people who are not at or in the immediate vicinity of said airport.

And their own notes say

A plant might do well for several mild winters, only to succumb in a very harsh winter. You might want to choose plants based on a colder zone, especially if you think your location is colder than nearby areas. Or, when selecting plants that you want to live for many years, you may want to use your site’s “Low Zone” in Table 2, rather than its “Average Zone.

For you that’s 4a, not 5a. Hey, anything’s worth a try but I note several years of average lows of -8 and then a couple years later it’s at -23. (For an average no less. I hereby retract at least six nasty remarks about the climate of west Tennessee.) Or just accept having to replant your trumpet vines every spring.

(bad xan fingers, bad, bad! It is “trumpet” vine, not strumpet, so stop typing that!)

Will trumpet honeysuckle work in zone 6? Submitted by lambert on Tue, 2007-07-03 07:50. And does it work in part shade?

yes, zone 5 is ok. part shade is ok too.

more infor/characteristics here (usda pages):

trumpet honeysuckle/L. sempervirens

characteristics

*