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OK, my friends! Hummingbird SUPER PLANT #5 is hot as a firecracker for hummers and sometimes B-flies.
I could only locate slides for the two species that are so very popular with homeowners in Southwestern states, but I have a scanned print that I can pull up. This beautiful plant thrives up through at least Virginia and Kentucky. A friend took some cuttings from one of his plants in Phoenix and sent them to me. Several of those PhD academic horticulturists tried to convince me that they would not make it through our 7b winters. It was some 10 years ago that I began field trials and my plants are like the Energizer Bunny. They just keep blooming and blooming and blooming every year.
In 2001, this plant was featured in my hummingbird and flower columns that I write for a number of small county newspapers. Next thing you know, some of the big box stores started offering it. And well they should. In Southern Va., this plant is ever-blooming from mid-May until heavy frost. It dies back when delicate tissue freezes and pops back up in the spring.
The big attractions for hummers are the dominant, flaming orange and sun yellow colors exploding from clusters of small, compound flowers. Often there may be a tinge of blue or purple. Hummers and B-flies are constantly visiting my plants. Yep, those hummers really try to get territorial about the combination of good nectar production, abundant small insects and spiders. Classified as a member of the mint family, you might expect this plant to exude a "minty odor," when you brush up against it. Actually, the odor is unpleasant and lingering. Correction: it plain stinks! But the hummers and B-flies and B-bees love it.
Now you B-fly experts give those poor hummingbird lovers a chance. Name this plant !!!!
Click the image for an enlarged view.
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