AKA 'Mothers of thousands'. Does anyone have info on whether hummers use this plant when in bloom? I have some almost ready, but have never observed hummers at it before.

Hi Patricia.

The Mother of Thousands that I grow, blooms in the winter, and has solid red-orange blooms. I believe it may be Kalanchoe delagoensis. Sadly no hummingbird interest for me.

Here's a pic of the body of the plant:






Kerry,

I just saw Kerry, that you had responded to my query and I hadn't noticed! Sorry. Could you please post your photo again? I'm still trying to find out whether the hummers use it. It sure looks like they should!

Hello Patricia!
I agree that it sure seems that hummers should use the Kalanchoe. I have had this plant for 2 years and totally neglected it, and it lived, but probably hasn't bloomed to it's potential yet.

Lately I've been taking better care, and hope to get some kind of action out of it this winter. I also have been tending to a few Aloe Striata , as they seem to bloom about the same time , January - March.

here's what my kalanchoe looks like as of 15 minutes ago:






Kerry,

Kerry, thanks! The foliage on yours looks different to mine. I don't have any photos of just them, so will add one tomorrow. Mine is less striated...if that's a plant term?
I got a 'baby' while staying at a hotel and there were 'babies' that had popped off, all over the grass.There were lots of blooms, but I didn't see hummer use there, but this was in San Jose, so there were less around that area.

Kerry I am so glad you posted this picture. My stepdaughter grew this plant at school last spring obviously from the little plantlets that come from the mature leaf of a parent plant. Anyway it (they) grew quickly but I had no idea what they were until I saw your picture. I actually have three in one large pot. I had no idea it would bloom....I guess I will have to hang onto it just so I can see what the blooms look like even if the hummers don't use it. Emmy will be very escited if it blooms too.

Penny
Niagara Falls, NY
USDA zone 6a/6b
Heat zone 4
Sunset zone 39

Hi Penny and Patricia. I was shocked to see it bloom for the first time as well! In looking online a little more, it seems that one of it's common names is the "chandelier plant", in reference to how the flowers hang.



The person on the following page calls it "The Devil's Backbone"! LOL!!! If my mom heard that, she's probably make me get rid of it! :
http://www.flickr.com/photos/mahmood/sets/72057594062085717/



I have seen hummingbirds at Aloe Striata flowers, which are kind of configured the same, so we'll give it another try.

Kerry,

I have also heard the name Devil
s Backbone and Mother of Thousands but had never seen it until my stepdaughter gave it to me and didn't know what it was until I saw your picture.

Penny
Niagara Falls, NY
USDA zone 6a/6b
Heat zone 4
Sunset zone 39

There is a large Aloe Vera plantation that may be one of the most important local habitats for wintering Ruby-throated Hummingbirds, according to Bill Hilton Jr of www.rubythroat.org and this is where he takes his 'students'. This is his only place to 'guarantee' finding enough Ruby Throats to band while in Costa Rica.
This is about an hour from where we live.

I'm growing at least 4 varieties of kalanchoes, including this one, along with a couple of aloes. For the most part, blooming of these plants has been minimal while the hummers have been here and while I have observed hummers feeding at all of them in bloom, the concentrations of flowering plants have not been such that would attract a hummingbird over the many flower-filled groupings and bushes throughout the yard.

I have two varieties similar to this one, one only grows a foot tall or so while the other, and most common in my yard, grows 4 feet or more. The latter one grows too tall for it to be able to hold itself up and falls over, often crushing and pushing out other plants. I've seen nice lots, 10 square foot, of the first one that look like they would definitely attract hummingbirds, but I have not seen them in bloom when there have been hummers around.

I've currently got 3 aloes blooming and one 3x3 area of one of the kalanchoes about to bloom. I'll make it a point to watch them closer for hummer activity.

Steve Backes
Valrico, FL (east of Tampa)

>

I have a couple of the Kalanchoe house plants;very pretty flowers. I've always struggled with the correct pronunciation of ka-lan-ko-ee Hear it pronounced: Kalanchoe


-
Cheers,Bob

USDA Plant Hardiness Zone 6a
Lexington,Ky.
It's Autumn!

After viewing your photos Kerry, I am thinking my plant is a Kalanchoe daigremontiana and I think yours is Kalanchoe delagoensis.

This is a 'dead' leaf, with new babies growing on it.

I just read this info on Wikipedia:

The plant's capability for vegetative reproduction, its resistance to drought, and its popularity as a garden plant, have allowed the plant to become an invasive weed in places such as eastern Australia and many Pacific islands. In the Neotropics it even gets pollinated by hummingbirds on occasion.

Here is a link to pictures of Kalanchoe daigremontiana with more images below http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/showimage/32946/



Penny
Niagara Falls, NY
USDA zone 6a/6b
Heat zone 4
Sunset zone 39

Bob,

This is a good one to emphasize the pronunciation. My wife and I spent years calling them ka-lan-choes. Around 10 years ago we got a CD on gardening and discovered a number of mispronunciations also including klee-ohm and nic-o-tin-ee-a.

I realize this is now off topic and I apologize but in trying to figure out how we could have gotten nicotinia out of nicotiana, a search of nicotinia found a number of hits on gardening forums. Were we not alone in our dyslexia or is this an old spelling or something that may explain my original misreading of the name?

Steve Backes

Valrico, FL (east of Tampa)

Quote: here is a large Aloe Vera plantation that may be one of the most important local habitats for wintering Ruby-throated Hummingbirds, according to Bill Hilton Jr of www.rubythroat.org and this is where he takes his 'students'. This is his only place to 'guarantee' finding enough Ruby Throats to band while in Costa Rica. This is about an hour from where we live.

Quote: After viewing your photos Kerry, I am thinking my plant is a Kalanchoe daigremontiana and I think yours is Kalanchoe delagoensis.

Patricia - an Aloe plantation sounds like hummingbird paradise when it's in bloom!! I do agree with your assessment that we have two different Kalanchoes - I think the foliage on the daigremontiana is much more attractive.

Quote: I have a couple of the Kalanchoe house plants;very pretty flowers. I've always struggled with the correct pronunciation of ka-lan-ko-ee

Bob - thanks for posting that - I've been saying the end of the word as a cross between "chew" and "joe" LOL!

Quote: I'm growing at least 4 varieties of kalanchoes, including this one, along with a couple of aloes.

Steve - I would love to know what other Kalanchoes and Aloes you are growing. you never know - I may be introduced to something I have to have.

Kerry,

Kerry,

I'm growing what appears to be the 2 previously mentioned ones, Kalanchoe daigremontiana (DEVIL'S BACKBONE) and Kalanchoe delagoensis (CHANDELIER PLANT), and Kalanchoe blossfeldiana (MADAGASCAR WIDOW'S-THRILL, CHRISTMAS KALANCHOE), Kalanchoe pinnata (CATHEDRAL BELLS, LIFE PLANT, Air Plant), and Kalanchoe fedtschenkoi (Lavender Scallops). None of the kalanchoes are currently blooming.

We were growing Kalanchoe gastonis-bonnieri (Donkey Ears) but it seems to have been lost to some overgrowth and/or neglect.

The Kalanchoe blossfeldiana is sold just about everywhere including grocery stores. It looks like it could be good, with moderate groupings of red flowers, but I've seen very little activity at them. Maybe it's due to its beng a low growing plant.

As invasive as some of these are, I'm amazed that we've been able to eradicate them in a number of areas where they're not wanted.

I believe one of the aloes is aloe vera (photo below). The Kalanchoe blossfeldiana is growing to its right.

and I'm not sure what this one is:

The Kalanchoe delagoensis is growing upright in the lower right of the picture and the Kalanchoe fedtschenkoi is crawling below at its base.

Steve Backes
Valrico, FL (east of Tampa)

>

Steve - thanks for all the info, and the effort to put in into a post!! I'll be looking some of those plants up for sure. I have to tell you, coming from the desert, your yard looks like a tropical paradise!

Thanks again.

Kerry,

I want to make sure that I was understood correctly on these plants. Hummingbirds have fed from them but I would not necessarily recommend them if you're reason for growing them was strictly for the birds. They need large patches to make a difference and I'm sure there are other plants that are less invasive and bloom more often that could better utilize the space. That said, if you want diversity in your yard and like this type of plant, it may also be used by hummingbirds. I always emphasize to people that not all plant have to be hummingbird plants. Make the yard what you want but make sure enough is offered to the birds. On the other hand, can you ever have enough hummer plants? Is there such a thing as too many?

I just discovered an area that reminds me of why they are called mother of thousands. I thought we'd been successful in removing them from this area. I guess not. So, I'm a little bit biases against them right now. Well, at least now I've got a newly cleared out area large enough for a new hummer bush should I find one.

Sometimes it feels like a "tropical paradise" here. Usually, it just feels like home. While trying to get a good shot of the aloe, I got this one:



It does have a tropical feel to it. I'm not sure how I managed to avoid any indication of the tree or house. The aloe is growing just inside the left of this photo and the first photo was taken from left to right through all of this vegetation.



Some neighbors may have words other than tropical in mind, since the hummer garden expanded to the front yard.

Steve Backes

Valrico, FL (east of Tampa)

As for me, I already have some of these plants, although they haven't yet bloomed. I just loved the hanging blooms when I first observed them, elsewhere.

In our garden, there is probably more plants that the hummers don't even glance at, and don't have any flowers at all since the are a a few different varieties of Elephant ears.

I am adding new plants that I hope will entice more hummers to the garden, but in reality the hummers that are here year round, may not even try the new additions, but they have many Porterweed shrubs they they seem to prefer over anything else.

There are lots of Amaryllis that offers continuous blooms during the dry season, but they don't attract hummers but I love them.

So, if the hummers use them it's good but if they don't that's fine as well.

All of my kalanchoes are blooming now.

The red bloom to the left are Kalanchoe delagoensis (CHANDELIER PLANT), the red on the right is Kalanchoe blossfeldiana (MADAGASCAR WIDOW'S-THRILL, CHRISTMAS KALANCHOE), and the bulk of what's in the picture is Kalanchoe fedtschenkoi (Lavender Scallops). The Lavender Scallops have orange blooms hanging down that are not as noticeable in this picture.

Steve Backes
Valrico, FL (east of Tampa)

I'm green with envy,Steve! The only other Kalanchoe I have is Kalanchoe blossfeldiana which has recently started blooming.
I guess, I will just have to have patience and continue to wait...!