Wednesday, June 26, 2013

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

13 comments:

Susan said...

Donna, those are gorgeous! Wow. I loved them. Congratulations. Susan

Brenda Pruitt said...

I've never had that vine, but it's gorgeous! I haven't seen one hummer this year.
Brenda

LeeAnn at Mrs Black's said...

What a wonderful climber! Our climate here would not allow anything that exotic - or those amazing Hummingbirds, so jealous!
You have a beautiful garden. Minerva ~

Patty Rumaker said...

All of your vines and plants look so healthy and amazing. Love the photographs. It is so hot in Dallas TX, we are already into the triple digits and it pretty much stays like this through the end of August, two months, no relief in sight - well September - if we are lucky.
Thanks, Patty

Betty said...

Your garden is so lovely. You truly have a green thumb.

ANNE said...

I love the foliage of the trumpet flower, the colour of the flower is divine also.

I need to plant one. Sigh. this is why I usually avoid garden posts and nurseries. I have no self control...

:)

Sharon Lovejoy said...

Love having the vine AND the hummer in my garden. Everything looks wonderful and so glad you had camera nearby. They're tough to photograph!

Happy weekend,

Sharon

Poppy said...

Hi Donna,

Visiting via Claudia's today...Your red trumpet vine is a pretty punch of colour in your lovely garden.

Poppy

Mary said...

With all those feeders and your beautiful vine the hummers should have a field day at your lovely garden - bet they'll be coming in droves as the weather dries up. We're having similar weather here in the SE - torrential rain from late day/evening storms and 90F+ during the day - so the garden is taking on the jungle look!

Love your handcrafted obelisk - what a great idea.
I have morning glories climbing the porch, should add a red cardinal vine for my hummers - thanks for the idea.

Happy weekend - Mary

Debra at HOMESPUN: http://www.thehomespun.com said...

I have never heard of this vine and it is just stunning! :)

My Little Home and Garden said...

The vine is beautiful with the vibrant flowers. How nice that it will bloom so late in the season.

Claudia said...

How come I don't see any Cardinal Climber Vines at my local nursery??? I have to look into this! I love the way yours has taken off, Donna. It's really lovely.

Thanks so much for joining in this week.

xo
Claudia

Donna said...

I love those little hummingbirds too! They are so adorable.