Ann: Gee, that is a beautiful Honeysuckle!! So sweet of you to offer to root cuttings for me ... but I'm so forgetful I will not remember five minutes from now!

Coral Honeysuckle (Lonicera sempervirens) is a native here in Florida lot of folks down here grow the non-invasive types of Honeysuckle. The little plant I got in a recent co-op is supposed to have yellow flowers. I need to check it tomorrow to see if it survived; I really hope it grows and thrives but it was teeny, tiny when I received and planted it and I sometimes don't have much luck with really small plants.

Oh my goodness Margaret ... those are really Awesome photo's! Gosh, those Western Tanagers are gorgeous! Such a cute couple and a great shot of Mr. feeding Mrs.!

We supposedly have the Summer Tanager here but I've never seen it that I remember and the Scarlet Tanager is supposed to be here during migration (March through early May in spring) and September and October during fall, but I've never seen one of them either.

Thank you Ann and Lin. The male is very bright, he really stands out amongst the apple blossoms.

Lin, perhaps you don't have the preferred habitat of the Tanagers and that's why you don't see them.

A pair of Mockingbirds are definitely feeding babies at a nest in my side yard. I wish I could get a peek into the nest but I'm only 5'4 and the nest is a bit higher in the little tree. I could get a ladder and try to take a peek but I hate to disturb the nest so I will just watch and wait until the babies make an appearance. I was walking outside this evening and noticed an adult in the tree and another flew in but spotted me and flew to a neighbors fence ... it had another bug in its mouth apparently for the babies. So I went inside and watched from the window ... the one with the bug flew to the nest and the other adult immediately took off, possibly for more food?

OH yes, definatly feeding those babies.

Newyorkrita said:OH yes, definatly feeding those babies.

Yep ... and I'm so curious to know how many are in the nest. I'm worried that a snake or crow will get them; we've had lots of crows this year and snakes are around too.

A couple of weeks ago my next door neighbor called me over to ask me if I possibly knew what the little bird egg was on top of her fence post. It was a Mockingbird egg and it was broken with the yolk running down the fence. I showed her a mockingbird nest in the shrubbery near her gate and told her it was probably a crow that got the egg and dropped it when the adults were chasing it away. I see the Mockers chasing crows almost daily! A couple of days later I had a message on my answering machine from the same neighbor telling me a huge black snake was in her backyard and the birds were dive bombing it and she didn't know why. I called her back to tell her that the birds were protecting their nests. I sure hope a snake doesn't get to the ones in my yard ... I will be watching for any signs of them and hopefully get my husband to relocate any snake that appears!

about the mockers feeding babies

Such great bird pics!
BTW, would anyone have an idea what might be planting peanuts on my property? Squirrels? The plants keep coming up!

Great photos Lin, I sure hope the crows and the snakes don't get the babies. Thankfully no snakes here but plenty of crows and ravens.

Linda, the Squirrels, Steller's Jays and Clark's Nutcrackers all hide their peanuts in the ground, in pots and planters, under leaves, all over the place.

I don't see those two kinds of birds, but I do have Western Scrub Jays. The first plant I noticed had part of an unshelled peanut sticking up, otherwise I wouldn't have known what these plants were.

Probably the Scrub Jays, do you get any peanuts from the plants? If the birds or squirrels don't find theirs here, they just rot.

Linda: At our old house the squirrels would plant peanuts all over the yard! I couldn't figure out what the little plants were that were popping up all over the backyard so I dug a few up to see what they turned out to be ... well, I laughed so hard when I dug one, shook off the soil and the peanut was still attached! I began watching the squirrels and sure enough they'd take them from the feeder, run to a spot in the yard and dig and bury a peanut; run back to the feeder, get another and go to another spot in the yard and bury another! A few years ago I took a few peanuts and stuck them in a hanging basket with the tops just above the soil ... sure enough they took root and sprouted! I thought I had a picture of one with blooms but can't find it:

My elderly backyard neighbor was originally from North Carolina and she got the biggest kick out of seeing the peanut plants sprouting in the backyard. She remembered her dad growing peanuts when she was young.

Trumpet Honeysuckle in yellow and red.


We were talking about how the hummers like honeysuckle. I never used to ever see a hummingbird in my garden until I planted lots and lots of honeysuckle.

Wow, and that is some amazing Honeysuckle ... gorgeous!

well, it is two different vines. One blooms yellow and the other an orangy red.

Yep, and both are really pretty!

Thanks! I love honeysuckle.

Ann, how did you root the honeysuckle cutting? just stick it in water?

I have done layering where you put a piece of growing vine into the soil and it roots. Really easily on Honeysuckle.

How about trumpet vine? After years my baby trumpet vine is finially growing this year. Hoping for flowers.

I just cut it & stuck it in water in a glass jar on the windowsill where it gets lots of light & sometimes even sun. I will do photos later though to show you the ones that rooted v.s. the ones that didn't so you will know what cuttings to take. The 1st one rooted in 7-10 days & then the ones I'll post photos of took around 2.5 to 3 weeks. I already potted up the 1st one that rooted. Tonight I will do the rest. They ALL have buds coming on them though. The hummers are going to be happy, happy!

Thanks!