[pbs] hummingbirds and red
P. C. Andrews
pcamusa at hotmail.com
Fri Oct 6 15:55:06 EDT 2006
I like the concept of seeing the world in more than three colors- so much we
are missing....
I was surprised to notice quite a bit of hummingbird activity around a
cluster of Belamcanda chinensis this past July. Surprised, because I hadn't
noticed it before and to my old nose Belamcanda doesn't have a strong scent.
I just hadn't thought of them as nectariferous. But I have to wonder- if
birds see in four colors what is their sense of smell like?
It may have been that I hadn't been in the right place at the right time
(very late afternoon) to notice the hummingbirds before. There had been
considerable rain the week before, after a dry spell. Does anyone know if
nectar production is affected by rainfall?
Another note- this particular clump of Belamcanda has quite dark nectar
guides relative to others I have (this batch of seeds came from the PBX). I
don't know if this affected the relative attractiveness because the other
clumps were not blooming.
-Phil
>From: "Jim McKenney" <jimmckenney at jimmckenney.com>
>Reply-To: Pacific Bulb Society <pbs at lists.ibiblio.org>
>To: "'Pacific Bulb Society'" <pbs at lists.ibiblio.org>
>Subject: Re: [pbs] hummingbirds and red
>Date: Thu, 5 Oct 2006 13:39:54 -0400
>
>Davie Ehrlich asked "Now, who's going to start a thread on butterfly
>attracting flowers?"
>
>I will, by noting that with butterflies the flowers may not be the most
>important element: in many cases it's the scent of the plant which attracts
>the butterflies.
>
>Jim McKenney
>Montgomery County, Maryland, USA, USDA zone 7, where Crocus asumaniae has
>two fat buds up and three Sternbergia lutea variants are blooming under
>cloudy skies with rain on the way for the next few days.
>
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