by Leslie Cox; Monday; November 28, 2016

Hummingbird on a wireIt has been an exciting few days in our garden. Some good cheer to lessen the grey of almost non-stop rains.

I have omitted mentioning in my blog…we have a pair of Anna hummingbirds over-wintering in our garden for the very first time. So exciting! It has also necessitated the purchase of a new hummingbird feeder.

We only have one, and a couple of very small ones for placing in planters. I quite often put out the small ones in pots on my front porch. Mainly because it is such fun to have a hummer come up close while we are enjoying a cup of afternoon tea…or something cold, if it is a hot, summer’s day.

But the bigger feeder has rarely been brought out of storage for the last few summers. I was noticing the syrup level never went down…even though there were a few hummers flitting about the garden.

Light bulb moment…the tiny creatures preferred the nectar from the many plants in flower throughout the season in our garden over a poor sugary substitute. Suited me just fine. Cross one chore off The List of making up sugar batches for hummer feeder.

However, I have put the sugar syrup making back on The List…and just filled the brand new feeder so I could wash the older one, as it was almost empty.

Two hummingbird feeders are needed at this time of year when the temperatures are dipping down to freezing levels as the syrup will freeze. One must be kept ready to swap out the frozen one.

Both hummers were busy feasting on the new feeder right away. I think they knew there was more rain and wind coming very shortly. They were right.

Other garden sightings of note:

  • A Northern Goshawk, sitting on a fence post in the field behind the garden…keeping a sharp eye peeled for possible breakfast. Too far away for a photo, even with the 50x zoom on my Canon.
  • Scraped a few leaves away from the crown of some of my hellebores. Buds are forming. Will have to get out in the garden when it is not raining and clean up around all of the hellebores so the blossoms have a chance to shine. (Check out the plant description for my favourite hellebore: Helleborus x ballardiae ‘Pink Frost’.)
  • Our Viburnum x bodnantense ‘Dawn’ is in bloom! We are fortunate this viburnum shows off its flowers from late autumn through to early spring here in the Pacific Northwest. In colder climates, the flowers will not appear until late winter.

Viburnum x bodnantense 'Dawn' - flowers closeup

Overall, it has been an exciting week in the garden…even for all the rainy weather in the third week of November.