I have good luck with Honeysuckle vine and my hummer(s) was attracted to these---this pic is from last spring>

Yikes Eddie! Are those honeysuckle on steroids???? Seriously how long have you been growing these guys? They are amazing. My honeysuckle don't even resemble yours, and I'm in se mi too. What's your secret?

kathy t.
shebly twp., MI
Zone 5/6

Wow! Now that is how big I want my honeysuckle to get. This will be the second summer for my plants and I know it will take a few years to get that big.

Russ Thompson
http://e-hummingbirds.com
http://vimeo.com/hummingbirds
http://hummingbirds.photoshop.com
Louisville, Kentucky

Nice to meet you Eddie.

Maryjane
W Ga
Zone 8a

Well blow me away! Those certainly are gorgeous monster plants. It looks like you have enough flowers there to support 100 hummingbirds. I have 'Alabama Crimson.' Do you have a named cultivar, or the unnamed species? The first year my Alabama Crimson was maybe only 5 or 6 feet tall and bloomed a little. The hummingbirds loved the blossoms. The second year (last year) was a big struggle with aphids, but the vine did grow bushier and taller. The aphids were really bad, attacking the green buds and spoiling them before they could open. I really had to get after them with a hose. after all my trials and tribulations, I'd be ecstatic if mine grew half as big as yours this coming year. Wow!

I already posted this once before, but it seemed appropriate: (I'm in southwestern PA, so my climate is not all that different from yours).

My plant isn't nearly as big or full as yours either Eddie. In fact this year I am going to cut it down off the trellis and move the trellis out away from the fence for more air circulation as I had a bad problems with aphids on my species plant last year too. My dropmore scarlet honeysuckle wiich is used as a screen for the trash can gets good air circulation and no problem with aphids.

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

The two plants against the back of the house are about 10 years old----The one in front is on a trellis is only about 5 years old--all were in one gallon pots when purchased---this pic is when they were at there peak---quick deadheading with a scissors keeps the flowers coming all season-they are all on good drainage areas- --I do a have problem with amphids---I water spray or actually cut a group off and drop in yard-waste can. A little Miricle Grow fertilizer now and then but really not to much. The free standing does better with more sun and better air circulation. If I did it over I would have all of them in open areas.----ED

Eddie thanks for answering the question I intended to ask in the first place. I agree about haveing them in an open area where they get more air. I have a small stem thet rooted last summer that I haven't severed from the parent plant yet but will do so this spring I can move that one out to a more prominent spot. Mine is rught up against my wooden privice fence and doesn't get much air on the back side until it fills out the top of the fence.

Penny

Niagara Falls, NY

USDA zone 6a/6b

Heat zone 4

Sunset zone 39

That's interesting speculation about open air versus less air circulation and aphids. My plant (I just have one) is very much in the open, on a free standing arch trellis, in a somewhat windy position. The wind tends to come up out of Whiskey Hollow, between the houses, and blows everything along our driveway. Even the Silver Maple in our front yard leans toward the street, and away from these prevailing winds. The wind can be a problem with more fragile plants, but that's really the only sunny area in our yard, so I have no choice about where to put my sun lovers.

Anyway, if it is an issue of air circulation, I'd hate to see how bad the aphids would be in a sheltered area! They were plenty bad as it was, early in the year. I did a lot of spraying with the hose, and then the problem seemed to rectify itself as we got into the warmer months.

Kristin
My one vine against the fence was so badly infested last year that I nearly cut the whole vine down to the ground. Instead I just did selective pruning all season long becaude I just could bare haveing it cut down but I really should have because I have very few flower cluster develop on that plant last year. The other one across the yard bloomed all summer.

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

I have/had a Dropmore Scarlet and the aphids were so bad I am afraid it is dead. I am waiting until Spring to see what happens but I am just sick about it because it was gorgeous in past years. Mine is on a big arbor and gets plenty of air as far as I can tell.

Thought I would share One of many pictures of Hummers at the Honeysuckle.

Hi,

How about introducing lady bugs in the yard to take care of the aphids. I bought a dropmore scarlet last year and all this talk of aphids is making me wonder what this spring will bring. I have some rose bushes that get aphids in the spring, but they disappear after the lady bugs make their appearance.

Suchie

Good point about the ladybugs. I think my aphid problem last year was solved by some larval looking bugs that moved in. I didn't actually see them eating the aphids, and they didn't exactly look like ladybug larvae, but once they showed up, the aphid problem stopped. I posted something last year, but if I remember correctly, no one could figure out what they were. I'll have to see if I can find that thread to see how I described them. If I see them again this year, I'll try to get a closeup picture, or maybe do a drawing.

I also got aphids later in the year. It seems like the major infestations corresponded with the colder times in the growing season--spring and fall. During the summer, I saw nary an aphid, and the vines bloomed nicely, but not anywhere near as impressively as Eddie's!

Beautiful plants Eddie! Thanks for sharing these photos!

Diana
Upstate SC
Zone 7b

Kristin, I too get aphids in the fall, as soon as the weather gets cooler. However, it is less severe than the spring infestation.

Suchie

There are two kinds of people in the world, those that grow amazing honeysuckle displays with ease and flare and those like me who can only wonder how. Some of the former are among my friends but not at the peak of honeysuckle season. It isn't fair.

And here is an example of another vine that at least a few of us have grown Manettia cordifolia. A hummingbird gardener down in Cape May Count has it growing on a chain link fence, masses of it. A friend showed me several photos she had taken of it in late summer and the whole mass of vines was nothing but flowers. It never flowered that heavy for me or anyone else I knew who ever grew it - and mine were from his stock. I'll see if I can get the photos because they are worth seeing.