Hummingbird Vines from Heaven

by Julie

We had a house out in the woods, and plenty of trees with birds that would fly amongst them from branch to branch tweeting and such, but we wanted to be able to see them. Even being surrounded by nature, it's difficult to watch it unless you have binoculars or stand at the treeline. So we got a hummingbird vine.

Hummingbird vines are notoriously picky plants, taking awhile to settle in. We chose to grow ours on the side of an old wooden structure. It was near one of our windows so we could see it easily from inside the house. For the first year it grew, and it started off growing very slowly, but towards the end of the summer it had a good grip on the structure. Unfortunately it didn't flower.

A year passed and the vine went back to growing, finally it flowered, but sadly, that whole summer would yield no birds. The flowers were quite breathtaking though. This is a reason why I really like this plant - it is nice to look at even without the birds.

However, two years after being planted, we did attract a hummingbird. They are truly beautiful creatures and an interesting thing about them is once they find a feeding spot they will keep returning. Because of this, we had one hummingbird that made regular appearances. While it's unlikely to see more than one bird without many vines in place, watching it flit about is still entertaining and a reminder of how nature can be so delicate and precious.

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