ADVICE FROM A HUMMINGBIRD
Sip the sweet moments
Let your true colors glow
Be a nectar collector
Don’t get your feathers ruffled over
the little things
Some days are just a humdinger, just
wing it
Keep your visits short and sweet
Dear Friends,
Once again, it has been a very long time since we have been
in touch. However, we are thinking of you and hoping that you and your
families are staying well and safe and that you are enjoying the hummingbirds,
butterflies, and other summer creatures of beauty and wonder.
We have been very busy this summer with travel and the
garden. In July, we were visited by Jim
and Stephany Putnam from Horttube with Jim Putnam and they put together a
wonderful video of our hummingbird garden efforts---this was so very
exciting!! To see our video, visit this link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SesJhqeO_2A&t=121s
Once again, we attended the Sedona Hummingbird Festival at
the end of July and it was such a wonderful and interesting experience as
always and we also met up with some old friends. Later in the newsletter, I will describe our
amazing visit to see a friend in Flagstaff who hosts hundreds of hummingbirds
and has an amazing hummingbird garden in very difficult conditions.
It is such a great time of the year with the great fall
migration of hummingbirds coming in September and we hope that you’ll stop in
and share it with us a bit later this season!
If you need information about hummingbird feeders, please
e-mail Kathi at kathijr@yahoo.com. Just a reminder, no matter
what feeder you decide to use, it must be scrubbed and cleaned, and the nectar
changed every few days or when the nectar is visibly cloudy, especially when
weather is hot and humid. Fermented or spoiled nectar could sicken or
kill a hummingbird. Red dyes are unnecessary---please use ONLY white
table sugar (NOT ORGANIC SUGAR, which contains iron and is toxic to
hummingbirds!) and water in feeders. Ant and bee guards will help keep
these insects away from your feeders. Thank you in advance for caring
about your hummingbirds and for all the hard work this entails!! Use of
hummingbird feeders at all points during the hummingbird season (early May
through mid-October) is key and highly encouraged, especially if you live in an
urban area. Despite our huge garden, we
still see hummingbirds use our feeders quite often. Some young birds will never learn to use
feeders though and will only feed from flowers, but other birds will primarily
visit feeders. Feeders also help on very
rainy days when flower nectar is diluted or washed away, very early in the
morning or at dusk, or on a very cold day as we approach the changing days of
fall. Hummingbird feeders help to
identify your garden as one designed for hummingbirds and the red on the feeder
will bring hummingbirds into your city or suburban garden (hummingbirds can see
red for up to ¼ mile away!). The extra
work involved in maintaining feeders has been very worthwhile for us. If you have any questions about the use or
maintenance of feeders, please don’t hesitate to ask us.
Adult Male Hummingbird in our Garden on 9/04/2026. Photo by Michael Rock
We
saw our first hummingbird, an adult male Ruby-throat on MAY 5, a pristinely
beautiful adult male. We overall have had a busier than normal season in
terms of hummingbird visits and we luckily did not experience the usual drop in
activity in later June and early July.
We were even lucky enough to see a courtship ritual between a male and a
female hummingbird earlier in the season and a female hummingbird took some of
our unbleached cotton nesting material (which means we had a hummingbird nest
near our home---how exciting is that?!)
We hope activity will continue to increase as we get closer to our
upcoming Hummingbird Garden Tours. We
hope you are seeing many hummingbirds and that you have been enjoying your
hummingbirds and gardens.
That brings us to our major topic for this communication, our upcoming Hummingbird Garden Tours. The dates of the tours are SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 19, 1-5:30
P.M. and WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 23, 1-5:30 P.M. at our home, 5118
Buffalo Trail, Madison, WI 53705. Events will be held rain or shine
(hope for sun!)
-Please feel free to bring your own drink in a closed
container, Keep in mind that sugary drinks may attract more insects and we are
seeing so many this season.
-We cannot allow people to use our restroom facilities or
enter our home except in an extreme emergency, and we apologize in advance.
-Please do not bring us food, sugar, or other gifts---while
we so much appreciate your generosity in the past, we ask that you refrain from
doing so again this year. Your presence at our event, your friendship, and
your memories are your gift to us!
-Unfortunately, there will be no hummingbird banding or
class this year due to family health issues.
We hope to bring those elements back to our tours in 2027.
-Small door prize drawings will occur at 3 p.m. on both
days. You must be present to win a door prize. Door prizes are
contributed by Wildbirds Unlimited, Christina Ciano and Jeff Buss, and Michael
and Kathi Rock.
-We thank Wildbirds Unlimited for their wonderful support
and helping us to publicize this annual event.
We also thank Klein’s Floral for publicizing our events in their monthly
email newsletter.
We thank Christina Ciano and Jeff Buss for their generous
donation of “A Place In The Garden” DVD’s and for their kind support and
friendship.
-All handout pieces will be available only online at our
website or by special request by e-mailing Kathi at kathijr@yahoo.com.
-We reserve the right to modify these arrangements as
needed and required and to cancel the event if needed. from contracting COVID-19.
What Will You See & Experience on our Garden Tours?
-Hummingbirds, butterflies, dragonflies, and other
pollinators, beautiful flowers, and our pond!
-Hopefully, great weather, which we have been very lucky to
experience for all our past tours except for one year. Let’s all hope for
no rain again this year!
-Door prizes---We will have a short program and small door
prize drawing at each tour (drawing is at 3 pm).
-We will be thrilled to see you all, along with some new
friends, once again as we enjoy hummingbirds together!
A Few Reminders:
-Many bees and wasps are present in a garden with so many
nectar producing flowers and sugar water feeders, especially in
September. We ask that you be very cautious and come well prepared if you
have a bee or wasp allergy or sensitivity. Be very careful when walking
around our garden that you don’t brush up against a bee or wasp by
accident. If you are allergic or sensitive to bee or wasp stings, please
take precautions. For this reason, we
recommend bringing beverages in closed containers only. Kathi gets stung every year and it is no fun!
-Only our front yard is accessible for people with physical
disabilities who use a wheelchair or walker.
-Wear sensible and comfortable footwear as ground may be
uneven or rocky or muddy.
-Photography of anything in our garden is absolutely
allowed and encouraged.
-Children must always be supervised.
-We ask that you NOT bring any pets (other than service
dogs) to the tours! We strongly recommend you keep cats indoors!!
If you have any questions about the Garden Tours, please
e-mail Kathi at kathijr@yahoo.com. You can also visit our website
at www.hummingbirdgardening.net
(and while you’re there, take a peek at the beautiful photos, all
taken by Michael, and other valuable information.)
OUR GARDEN 2026, SUCCESSES & CHALLENGES
Every season in our garden with our hummingbirds and plants
is so vastly different. Since weather
conditions and gardener preferences and levels of energy and creativity vary so
much, one year is never like another. As
we have discovered “There is always more to learn”! We have learned that sometimes challenges can
present opportunities (an example was when a large tree branch fell down during
a storm and created a new full sun garden!)
Challenges can also teach us patience and help us to stretch and
strengthen our gardening insights and skills.
The joy of our successes more often compensates for the downs of the
challenges.
SUCESSES
-More consistent hummingbird activity throughout the season
and great use of both perennial and annual flowers.
-Salvia garden and blooming continues to be strong. Once again, salvias are wonderful in
September, just when we need them to be!
-Great success with cuttings and seed starting (thanks to
Michael!) to maintain and expand our hummingbird favorite plants selection.
-Use of wood chip application to increase hardiness of
tender perennials (we had a Vitex shrub, hardy to zone 7, return and also
several tropical salvias.)
-Successful development of two new full sun areas for
hummingbird plants in the back and side of our home. We have been able to feature more full sun
perennial and annual plants for hummingbirds.
-Amazing success with Leonotis nepetifolia (Lion’s Ear) plant---it
was our second year with this plant purchased at Klein’s Floral on East
Washington Avenue in Madison and we grew it successfully from seeds. We have
the Leonotis in two different garden areas planted in the ground. The plants
are currently 9 to 10 feet tall. Plants
were shared with another hummingbird gardener and photographer.
CHALLENGES
-Drought throughout much of summer. Many of our flowering shrubs have really
struggled to thrive this season and watering has been very intense and
exhausting!
-A record number of wild rabbits and the destruction of
many favorite hummingbird plants, including salvias (which they are not
supposed to like.)
-Continued issues with too much shade in the front of our
home due to ever expanding city trees.
CATMINT, AN OFTEN OVERLOOKED & MISUNDERSTOOD PERENNIAL
FOR HUMMINGBIRDS
We have grown tall, Siberian Catmint in our garden for many
years. This year with increase in
numbers of hummingbirds we are seeing, we found that our huge patch of this
plant was an amazing draw for hummingbirds in the early summer.
Most people think about catmint being an insignificant and very
low growing plant with tiny flowers that are found in parking lots and other
public areas because they require very little care and grow well in full sun. When they think about a hummingbird garden,
catmint does not spring to mind, which is unfortunate, especially given the
lack of perennial and easy to grow plants that attract hummingbirds in our
colder zones in the Upper Midwest.
While catmint is not a native plant, it does not seed
around your garden and only expands at the base of the plant and can be easily
kept in check. It is hardy to zone 3,
grows easily and well in most soil types in a sunny spot, and has no disease or
pest problems and is pretty drought tolerant.
The downfall is that it begins to decline in August and a cutback sadly
does not produce a fresh flush of flowers.
We generally cut the plants down to a few inches tall and place
containers of salvias in that area for our September Hummingbird Garden Tours.
There are two types of tall catmint---Siberian Catmint and
Japanese Catmint. We have only grown the Siberian type (‘Souvenir d’André Chaudron’,
‘Six Hills Giant’), which is almost impossible to find---WE ARE WILLING TO
SHARE SOME WITH ANYONE WHO IS INTERESTED NEXT SPRING! Japanese catmint is a little less hardy (Zone
4) and we are not experienced with that particular plant, but plan to give it a
try next season, especially since it seems to be more readily available. While you only need to plant Catmint once, it
can be very challenging to find the right catmint for hummingbirds for
sale. We are not aware of any local
nurseries that carry tall catmint
Good online nursery sources for tall catmint include
Bluestone Perennials and Digging Dog Nursery.
If you don’t currently grow any tall Catmint, we strongly
encourage you to consider including some in your 2027 garden. Your
hummingbirds will thank you and you will enjoy watching hummingbirds feed from
this beautiful flower during its peak bloom in late spring and early summer.
SALVIA ‘PINK AMISTAD’
Many of us have grown the original Salvia ‘Amistad’ with its
huge purple flowers and striking dark calyces for many years. A new form of Salvia ‘Amistad’ now available
in the US from Select Seeds is called Salvia ‘Pink Amistad.” We threw our hat in the ring and decided to
give it a try. We have ‘Pink Amistad’ plants
growing both in the ground and in containers in different garden areas. Like the original ‘Amistad’, it requires planting
in a full sun area to perform at its peak.
We were delighted when hummingbirds seemed to seek out
Salvia ‘Pink Amistad’ almost right away and that the brilliant pink flowers held
by the same dark caylces stand out so much more than the dark purple flowers of
the original form.
It is a slightly smaller scale plant than the original and
is more appropriate for a container than the original form but can be easily grown
in the ground as well. Our cover photo
for this newsletter shows a hummingbird enjoying Savia ‘Pink Amistad’.
Salvia ‘Pink Amistad’ is a beautiful addition to our salvia
and hummingbird garden and we hope that Select Seeds continues to carry it in
the future.
A FANTASTIC HUMMINGBIRD GARDEN & EXPERIENCE IN
FLAGSTAFF, ARIZONA!
When we attended the 2026 Sedona Hummingbird Festival, we
enjoyed all of the programs, garden tours, and hummingbird banding immensely
with old friends, but the highlight event of this trip was a visit to see a
relatively new friend who lives in Flagstaff (about an hour drive from Sedona.) In his somewhat rural location with mountains
in the distance, he is able to attract hundreds of hummingbirds during the fall
migration period in one day with many feeders and a very beautiful garden. Activity is particularly brisk at dawn and
dusk and we visited at dusk, followed by a delightful and delicious meal at a
local restaurant. The drive there was
nothing short of spectacular.
In a typical day in late August, our friend’s hummingbirds
can easily go through 316 ounces of nectar in 18 feeders!! The amount of work
involved in preparing all of this nectar and cleaning 18 feeders is beyond our
comprehension. Below is a photo of what
a feeder looks like in our friend’s yard during “Hummingbird Happy Hour”!
Gardening in Arizona is a very tough business, but
especially in the difficult soil and high altitude of Flagstaff. While
temperatures there are much cooler than they are in Phoenix or even Sedona (Flagstaff
experiences a traditional winter like we do in Wisconsin with A LOT of snow!),
sun can be unforgiving because of the high altitude and the fact that plants
are so much closer to the sun.
Plants such as Buddleia (Butterfly Bush), penstemon, Agastache
and Columbine do particularly well in our friend’s garden. Since rain can be unpredictable, drought
tolerance is especially important.
It was extremely exciting to see so many species of
hummingbirds in such high numbers---the sound is almost deafening----you must
be there to truly understand the beauty of such a spectacle, and we were so privileged
to be a witness to it!! Our friend is
clearly an “angel on earth” to do this work to help so many hummingbirds every
single season!!
HUMMINGBIRD ON A NEST!
In mid-August, we received an email from friends who live
in downtown Madison about a hummingbird nest they were observing in a maple
tree on their street. We hurried on over and found Mom on the nest. Over the next week, we discovered that one
chick had hatched (we even had one visit where another hummingbird was trying
to chase Mom away from the nest, which we couldn’t quite understand.) Thank you to our wonderful friend and very
talented photographer, Barbara Houlihan, we had an excellent photo of Mom with
her chick (below). Michael also captured
a great video which can be found on his Instagram account.
From what we know, an August hummingbird nest in Wisconsin
is very late for our area. The typical
nesting period is in mid-June, which gives the newly hatched chicks plenty of
time to develop and prepare for migration.
We were not entirely surprised that one of the two eggs (hummingbirds
almost always lay two eggs) never hatched or was destroyed by a predator. What was strange and also interesting is that
the period Mom spent feeding the chick was rather abbreviated. We hope that it is because Mom and baby are
both fine and on their way south and not because they met with danger and/or
death. Sadly, we will never know, but it
was a fun viewing and learning experience.
We hope to find a hummingbird nest in our own garden one of these
seasons!
HUMMINGBIRD ARTICLES/VIDEOS OF INTEREST, OTHER NEWS
-Almost Eden Plants in Merryville,
LA is closing its online store and in person business after 22 years!! We will miss their wonderful selection of
pollinator plants so much! It sadly becomes
more difficult to find specialized pollinator plants online and locally as more
nurseries close their operations and decrease their offerings of plants for hummingbirds
and butterflies.
-In Memoriam: Betsy Clebsch passed away in California
on November 27, 2025 at age 101. We were
honored to have met Betsy at the 2016 Salvia Summit in Berkeley,
California. She was known worldwide for
her knowledge about the genus Salvia and wrote two wonderful books and we
learned so much about salvias from Betsy’s books. Find her obituary here: https://www.dignitymemorial.com/obituaries/nottingham-md/betsy-clebsch-12633246?fbclid=IwY2xjawUGw_5wZG9mAWV4dG4DYWVtAjExAGJyaWQRMUpabmN5bkF4a0dEenVxM2NzcnRjBmFwcF9pZBAyMjIwMzkxNzg4MjAwODkyAAEe2rVET4ONVtlCp5KS3tJuCPZe_VWeEkVIZt9GcNZtG_TOP7WCEVXKNI2XbNQ_aem_gaFLqy2Fjp8MTu9UlrypOA
-In Memoriam: Martha Sargent passed way in Alabama in November
2025. She was a master hummingbird
bander and the wife of famed Master Hummingbird bander, Bob Sargent, who died
in 2014. They created and managed The Hummer/Bird
Study Group and their wonderful newsletter and work have been so missed since
Bob’s passing. We went on a birding trip
to Arizona with the Sargents in the early 2000’s and they introduced us to the
fascinating and beautiful world of hummingbirds there. They have trained countless hummingbird
banders throughout the US and their legacy will live on. We will miss their wonderful friendship and
support. Here is Martha’s obituary: https://www.jmgardens.com/obituaries/martha-sargent
-CBS 60 Minutes: Birding Takes Flight After Peace Deal Between
Colombia & Guerilla Group. If
you missed this excellent segment with spectacular photography of hummingbirds
in Colombia, find it here on youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E_k9f999Erw
-NEW!! Transmitters on Hummingbirds Further Extend
What We Know About These Tiny Birds!
Traditional hummingbird banding
will always be the gold standard when it comes to tracking the flight of
hummingbirds---a metal band, with its unique number put on a hummingbird by a
federally licensed bander, is tried and true with success and detailed records
maintained by banders and the Federal Bird Banding Laboratory behind it. However, technology has taken us in new
directions as we expand our knowledge about where hummingbirds go and how they
live. Tiny transmitters applied with
glue that can be easily accessed by cellphones and Blue Tooth are an exciting
development. Here are the details:
Researchers now
track hummingbird migration using ultra-lightweight solar transmitters like the
BlūMorpho tag, which weighs just 0.058 to 0.060
grams—about the size of a grain of rice. [1, 2]
How the Technology
Works
- Weight Limit: Tags and attachments must stay under 3% of a hummingbird's lean
body mass to ensure safe flight.
- Attachment: Researchers use specialized safe glue to attach the solar-powered
transmitter to a small patch of feathers on the bird's back.
- Tracking Network: The transmitters ping off everyday Bluetooth devices and
crowd-sourced regional receivers along migration routes to relay location
data.
- Duration: The glue safely wears off or drops during routine preening and
molting after 30 to 60 days.
Recent Discoveries
- Historic Tracks: Projects by the Banding Coalition of
the Americas mapped unprecedented long-distance journeys, including a Rufous
Hummingbird traveling from Alabama to Alaska in 38 days. [1, 2]
- Conservation Goals: The data helps scientists identify critical stopover habitats,
resource usage, and environmental needs to protect declining populations.
[1, 2]
This new technology gives us
access to short term information only as the transmitter will eventually fall
off the bird as it preens and molts, but the possibilities of gaining more detailed
information about where the bird goes without having to recapture it are very
exciting!
THE HUMMINGBIRD’S FAREWELL
Two little white blossoms
So stately and tall
The hummingbird there
Knows that now it is Fall
He's come there to tell them
He loves every one
And he will be happy
When Spring has begun
The days are quite gloomy
The rain has begun
All Nature is thirsty
HE's had QUITE A RUN
He's come there to thank them
For ALL that they give
Their Beauty and Sweetness
That helps Him to live
He's whispering to them
Before you depart
Just know that your Sweetness
Lives on in my heart
--jean monce bryant
