The flower from my Echinacea Purpea (seen in the left-hand side of the first image that accompanies this post), seems delighted at the arrival of more buds — as evidenced by the “expression” on her face —to keep her company in my urban (NYC) container garden.
I’m just as thrilled (if not more so) than she is because while Echinacea is a hardy, fun-loving perennial, it has always been an annual in my garden. For years Echinacea has not come back after her winter’s nap.
In fact, this year all three of my Echinacea varieties (Purpea, White Swan and Tiki-Torch) have returned!
As I said, the Purpea variety can be seen in the first image. The second image shows the White Swan Variety and the Echinacea’s buds are alongside my hummingbird feeder (made of blue recycled glass). They seem to be holding up their “arms” as either a Salut to the Sun (the things I grow often do yoga) or perhaps they are communicating with the hummingbirds and letting them know where a feeder is located. The third image features the bud of the Harvest Moon Echinacea variety, lifting its arms; rejoicing.
I had nearly resigned myself to accepting the fact that while Echinacea Plants are hearty fun-loving perennials, in my urban (NYC) garden they were annuals.
Great news for me as these “funky” herbs are inspirational as evidenced by the number of blog posts where they have been featured on Blogger. These can be found @http://www.thelastleafgardener.com/search/label/Echinacea
Moreover, I’ve featured Echinacea in one of my garden themed Virtual Stories (movies), titled, “An Echinacea Elaborates.” This may be viewed @http://vimeo.com/35213748
AND, an image of Echinacea is also featured in my petite wrap-around greeting cards known as “Echinacea Triplets,” which can be seen @http://www.patriciayoungquist.com/Pages/store/notes_ac.html#echin3
“A faithful friend is a sturdy shelter, he who finds one finds a treasure; A faithful friend is beyond price, no sum can balance his worth …”
And nothing could be truer of the friend that I have found in Victor B, my dear friend who grew up in Trinidad, Land of the Hummingbirds.
It was fitting then, that Victor B helped me “install” three hummingbird feeders last evening in my urban (NYC) container garden. A feeder (each one made of recycled glass with a red top), can be seen in each image accompanying this entry, and please click on a given image to see a caption and detail.Victor and I put up the feeders because Juan V saw a hummingbird when he was here this past Monday to help me with my gardening.
Juan V’s observation prompted me to investigate what might lure more humming birds back to my garden; and I was told by various sources, that by tying red ribbon in various places in my garden, the hummingbirds would be sure to come.
Was this red-ribbon advice a quasi Field-of-Dreams-if-you-build-it-they-will-come; or if I tied red-ribbon in various places in my garden, would the hummingbirds come visit? I posted this question to my LinkedIn discussion groups including Garden Writers and Rooftop Gardeners, and I want to once again thank the folks who weighed in on my question by sharing their suggestions.
As of this posting here on tumblr, these folks include Mary P, Athena M, Thomas O, Sara C, Mary C, Lisa W, Arleigh B, Maureen L, Mark K, Lee K and Thomas R. I do not know any of these people personally, so I am especially grateful they weighed in on my question, and now my hope is that I’ll have hummingbirds singing praises in my lovely garden.
And yes, I tied a bit of red ribbon throughout my garden.
“Do you see what I see? Do you hear what I hear?”
As posted on TLLG’s Facebook page today, these are the questions that the red roses which are growing in my urban (NYC) terrace (roof extension) garden seem to be asking, but I am posting it here too (for tumblr users who do not do FB).
Re my roses’ questions: I think Juan V may know what’s prompted the roses’ inquisitiveness, because, yesterday, when he was here to help me in my garden, he saw a hummingbird checking them out.
This has peaked my curiosity about hummingbirds, and I will be putting in hummingbird feeders soon and verrrrrry soon, but, I’ve also just learned that they love the color red.
Moreover, someone has advised me to hang red ribbons in my garden in the interim (as I await my hummingbird feeders to arrive), but it seems like a misrepresentation, to hang red ribbons to lure hummingbirds here until I am sure I have food for them.
Still, I am wondering if anyone out there in cyber-space knows if there is a connection between hummingbirds and the color red
