The cardinal climber vine loves our homemade tree branch obelisk!

 The cardinal climber is now in bloom!

What a beautiful burst of (much needed) color to our little backyard garden!

Last year I planted cardinal climber from seed. Sadly, the few vining tendrils that did take off didn't even bloom until late September, long after my hummers were gone.

 

(watercolor filter)

So this year, I purchased plants that had already been started. And yippee! They took off like a shot, quickly climbing the branches of the rustic obelisk we built last year.

Less than a week ago, the vines were covered with buds...

... but only an occasional bloom or two.

The bright red trumpet shaped flowers...

... are supposed to be very appealing to hummingbirds!

(I say supposed to be because I've not seen a single hummer at the vine yet!)

But now that more and more flowers are blooming, I'm sure my little friends will take notice.

These should bloom until the first frost...

... long after my hummer friends are gone.

A photo from last week, before the vines started blooming. 

Here the focus is on the cardinal climber in the background...

...and here, the focus shifts to the purple flowers in the foreground (on the deck).

And if the hummers do get tired of hovering at the blooms once they've discovered them, they can always take a rest on one of the feeders. Right now, this feeder hangs from our deck...

This one from the cherry tree...

This one from the mulberry tree...

And lastly, this feeder hangs from the swing set deck.

Last week I switched the various feeders around a bit. I had just finished hanging this feeder from the swing set deck when a hungry male ruby-throat zeroed in on it. Luckily I had camera in hand!

He shifted positions a few times, looking right at me in this photo, before going back to sipping the sugar water. I so enjoy these little visitors!!

We are in the middle of a heat wave here in the Northeast so I'm filling all of my bird baths twice a day. Hopefully the muggy weather and high temps will take leave soon!

I hope you're all having a wonderful week!

This week I'm joining Claudia, Mockingbird Hill Cottage for A Favorite Thing Saturday,
Brenda, Cozy Little House for Tweak It Tuesday,

Tracie, Fishtail Cottage for Cottage Garden Party

and Cindy, My Romantic Home for Show & Tell Friday

Donna