Re: Delphinium nudicaule/Hummingbirds

Hi, Val in Kentucky.  My husband's family is from your beautiful state. We
have gardening Kentucky relatives and many happy memories.  

In my wild and wooly western Oregon hummingbird garden, this low-growing
delphinium is a wonderful and reliable food flower.  Don't be surprised
however if your native Ruby-throated hummers need to "learn" to obtain
nectar from it.  Their tongues are very different from the native Anna's,
Allen's, and Rufous who feed on this.  Delphinium nudicaule is found in
rocky partially-shaded upland and foothills areas, so give it excellent
drainage and protect the slightly fleshy and tender leaves from the hottest
sun.   Since it so low-growing, be sure that it is not planted too near
"cover" plants that cats could hide in.  Hummers will even feed on mossy
rock garden cushions such as Silene acaulis, but they are especially
vulnerable to cat predation when hovering so near the ground.  

Dry summers are the norm for this delphinium, as is cool soil that reduces
naturally its water demand.  Extra care is needed to prevent overwatering
during the summer.  It does not require the rich soil/heavy feeding
typically used for border delphiniums.  Seeds require a few weeks of cold
conditioning to germinate, but are otherwise easy.  Seedlings are quite
slow at first, but take off when the days get long.  


Speaking of hummers, please indulge me some offtopic spiel:  For the last
two days I have been working (land surveying) on a construction site in
freezing nasty weather.  The ground was frozen quite hard yet I have been
watching the courtship antics of a pair of Anna's hummingbirds.  I got
positive id by their call and with my survey instrument during breaks from
work.  It is so incredible to watch the male flash his jet-black and
magenta gorget and do his low-pass aerial stunts in the cold grey of the
thicket of bare limbs.  At courtship time both also make distinctive and
un-hummingbird sounding chirps.  

How very lucky I feel to have a career that has permitted me to spend so
much time outdoors in an endless variety of settings.  The work is very
strenuous at times, but so rewarding.  The birds have been so curious and
hungry that they have approached my very closely to investigate my red
backsight targets, ribbons, bright yellow survey instrument.  (This has
happened to me many times over the years, but it is always such a thrill!)
For hours I once kept wondering why they returned so often to the
instrument, then it finally hit me: they are catching the gnats that for
some odd reason are attracted to it.  It has always puzzled me why gnats,
no-see-ums, and flying ants are attracted to this piece of electronic
equipment.  It emits both infra-red and radio waves, and it also is no
doubt salty from constant touching by my pesky hands ;-) One time it got so
covered with "blooming" winged ants that it went crrrrunch every time I
turned an angle.

Ok, so what in the world ~are the hummers feeding on ~now ?  Today I also
discovered a female Anna's in my garden.  Her cold and frozen buffet
includes: several species of viburnum, lonicera hybrids, Indian Plum
(Oemlaria cerasiformis), hazelnut and willow catkins, and sap from willows
and from several other trees.  During breeding and caring for young, tiny
insects are the mainstay of the hummingbird diet.  

Hope I have not rambled too much.  Winter cheer to AllahYa!

Louise
co-listowner, Penstemon-L 
Corvallis, Oregon, with at least three zones of microclimate 
Siggie humor
You can only be young once, but you can be immature forever. --The Old
Perfesser


At 01:57 PM 1/31/2000 -0500, Val wrote:
>
>Doug,
>
>since I last posted I received some info on where to purchase the seed for
>the delphinium I'm looking for.  My order goes out tomorrow.
>
>Before I do, though, what can you tell me about its culture?  Easy to start
>from seed? 

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