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permaculture - [permaculture] Fwd: Re: [NAFEX] Hummingbirds - pollinate apple, hawthorn, serviceberry, cherry, plum?

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  • From: "Lawrence F. London, Jr." <lflj@bellsouth.net>
  • To: permaculture <permaculture@lists.ibiblio.org>, Market Farming <marketfarming@lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: [permaculture] Fwd: Re: [NAFEX] Hummingbirds - pollinate apple, hawthorn, serviceberry, cherry, plum?
  • Date: Tue, 25 Jan 2011 20:50:17 -0500

-------- Original Message --------
Subject: Re: [NAFEX] Hummingbirds - pollinate apple, hawthorn, serviceberry, cherry, plum?
Date: Tue, 25 Jan 2011 19:32:06 -0500
From: Douglas Woodard <dwoodard@becon.org>
Reply-To: North American Fruit Explorers <nafex@lists.ibiblio.org>
To: North American Fruit Explorers <nafex@lists.ibiblio.org>

The book "Trees, Shrubs and Vines for Attracting Birds", Second Edition
Revised, by Richard M. DeGraaf (University Press of New England, 2002;
first edition University of Massachusetts Press, 1979) lists the
Ruby-throated hummingbird as feeding on the nectar of

apples and crabapples,
yellow-poplar/tulip tree (Liriodendron tulipifera)
bearberry (Arctostaphylos uva-ursi)
buttonbush (Cephalanthus occidentalis}
honeysuckles (Lonicera species)
coralberry (Symphoricarpos orbiculatus)
blueberries
trumpetcreeper (Campsis radicans)

(The first edition of this book was subtitled (A manual for the northeast)

Presumably if they feed on the nectar, they may pollinate the flowers.

I note that Jerry Lehman says that hummingbirds arrive in his area too
late to pollinate apple flowers.

I speculate that hummingbirds may arrive in an area early enough to
pollinate the woody plants listed above when those plants are very
common. or when there are sufficient other early sources such as
wildflowers to interest them (e.g. aquilegia species), also where there
are trees attractive to sapsuckers, as I understand that often
hummingbirds raid the sap holes drilled by sapsuckers until flowers are
out. DeGraaf also lists trees attractive to yellow-bellied sapsuckers.

Doug Woodard
St. Catharines, Ontario, Canada




  • [permaculture] Fwd: Re: [NAFEX] Hummingbirds - pollinate apple, hawthorn, serviceberry, cherry, plum?, Lawrence F. London, Jr., 01/25/2011

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