I like the concept of seeing the world in more than three colors- so much we are missing.... I was surprised to notice quite a bit of hummingbird activity around a cluster of Belamcanda chinensis this past July. Surprised, because I hadn't noticed it before and to my old nose Belamcanda doesn't have a strong scent. I just hadn't thought of them as nectariferous. But I have to wonder- if birds see in four colors what is their sense of smell like? It may have been that I hadn't been in the right place at the right time (very late afternoon) to notice the hummingbirds before. There had been considerable rain the week before, after a dry spell. Does anyone know if nectar production is affected by rainfall? Another note- this particular clump of Belamcanda has quite dark nectar guides relative to others I have (this batch of seeds came from the PBX). I don't know if this affected the relative attractiveness because the other clumps were not blooming. -Phil >From: "Jim McKenney" <jimmckenney@jimmckenney.com> >Reply-To: Pacific Bulb Society <pbs@lists.ibiblio.org> >To: "'Pacific Bulb Society'" <pbs@lists.ibiblio.org> >Subject: Re: [pbs] hummingbirds and red >Date: Thu, 5 Oct 2006 13:39:54 -0400 > >Davie Ehrlich asked "Now, who's going to start a thread on butterfly >attracting flowers?" > >I will, by noting that with butterflies the flowers may not be the most >important element: in many cases it's the scent of the plant which attracts >the butterflies. > >Jim McKenney >Montgomery County, Maryland, USA, USDA zone 7, where Crocus asumaniae has >two fat buds up and three Sternbergia lutea variants are blooming under >cloudy skies with rain on the way for the next few days. > >_______________________________________________ >pbs mailing list >pbs@lists.ibiblio.org >http://www.pacificbulbsociety.org/list.php