Vines for Hummingbirds

PeggyC · Post by **PeggyC** » Mar 23, 2005 2:51 pm

I'm thinking I'm going to plant some vines for hummingbirds this year. What do you suggest besides trumpet vine and cardinal vine?

Old earth dog · Post by **Old earth dog** » Mar 23, 2005 3:39 pm

Scarlet Honeysuckle. Mine blooms in waves till the freeze kills the flowers. They don't have the honeysuckle scent nor do they reseed wildly like the Japanese variety. Hummingbirds all the time. One year I had a pair of Orioles stay all summer.

Deb118 · Post by **Deb118** » Mar 23, 2005 11:34 pm

Peg, OED's Red Honeysuckle is great! Here's mine just after one full season of growing

BillyB · Post by **BillyB** » Mar 30, 2005 4:06 pm

DON'T! plant a Trumpet vine unless you dont mind it coming up every where else. Maybe along a fence row away from the house. But I would never put one in or close to a bed. I've learned my lesson.

Post by **Chris_W** » Mar 30, 2005 4:10 pm

I agree with Billy. If you are going to plant a trumpet vine make sure it is well away from anything important.

That scarlet honeysuckle looks fantastic! I'll have to keep an eye out for that one

Old earth dog · Post by **Old earth dog** » Mar 31, 2005 12:53 am

Chris, the Scarlet Honeysuckle, Trumpet Honeysuckle vine I have is (I think

) Lonicera sempervirens. There are a number of varieties from dark red to yellow. The yellow I had seemd prone to mildew.
Typical honeysuckle vine in that they can repro VERY easily with cuttings or layereing.
At one time I had Trumpet creeper (Campsis radicans)on my deck overhead. It responded well to dead heading, but, as BillyB mentioned, they came up all over if any were left to seed. I also didn't like the "hold tight" (Ivy like) way they climbed on the wood. If kept stripped of lower "branches" and given a strong pole to climb, they can make a nice tree standard like a wisteria.

JaneG · Post by **JaneG** » Apr 04, 2005 1:38 pm

I second (or third or fourth) the recommendation for Honeysuckle. I planted two varieties on an arbor over the deck and much to my delight, the hummingbirds showed up!!

Violet_Skies · Post by **Violet_Skies** » Apr 04, 2005 2:22 pm

Cypress vines. Very pretty and ferny foliage. I grow the red/pink/white blend and have seeds if you want some. Gotta keep the flowers snipped daily or they go to seed immediately, though.