Seed Swap for Hummingbird Lovers

Another fun swap for all of us! After narrowing down my choices, I decided since it was hummingbird arrival time for many of us; to go with seeds that grow into plants that hummingbirds love. Let's start our swap with 16 people, as many of us are SO busy getting our gardens ready!

Hummingbird Seed Swap Rules:
1. Send 15 seed packets "all decorated up" in a hummingbird theme. Please label the seeds with your DG username & seed type.
2. Remember to send seeds that are hummingbird appropriate, i.e.: bee balm, cardinal flower, butterfly bush, trumpet vine, snapdragon, salvia, fuchsia, columbine, phlox, cleome, just to name a few! There are many, many others and if you need help, please feel free to dmail me. :)
3. Send 1-small gift. (i.e. stickers, pencils, garden gloves, bookmarks, magnets, pins)
4. Send a self-addressed label for bubble envelope
5. Send stamps or enough money to cover postage for your bubble envelope to be returned full of fun seed packets and a small gift.
6. Remember to send your goodies in a LARGE (8.5x11) bubble envelope. It is sometimes hard to fit everything inside one any smaller. :-)
7. If you are not in the address exchange, please d-mail your address to me when you sign up.
8. Please send your BE to me no later than: May 30, 2007. Thanks!
Flutter on over to our swap and join in on the fun!

Flutter Swappers:
1. TexasGardenMom - Belinda ****RECEIVED****
2. rwmedic - Beck
3. silkiechick - Mary ***RECEIVED***
4. Robynznest - Robyn
5. ByndeweedBeth - Beth ***RECEIVED***
6. moretz - Melissa
7. beckygardner - Becky ***RECEIVED***
8. pamsue - Pam ***RECEIVED***
9. starlight - Ella ***RECEIVED***
10. cyndiehook - Cyndie ***RECEIVED***
11. sheran - Sheran
12. kaykay1010 - Kay **RECEIVED***
R13. bluespiral - Karen ***RECEIVED***
14. dirtfloor - Tena
15. Tokoro - ???


Edited to add swappers names! :-)


This message was edited Jun 4, 2007 10:22 AM

Oh yippie I am the 1st one this time. Thank you for posting in other thread. I will get back to chat later today.


Beck

You're in girlfriend! We'll chat more later today!
Belinda

hey gf!!
count me in too!!
silkie

Don't forget me!!!!!!!!!


Belinda, sorry to hear about those D____ stones, I know all about them. For 14 years I was having them every 6 months. Each time it was a trip to the hospital to get a stint put in, They were too big to pass. To make a long very painful and awful story short, I switched Doctors and he figured out my problem within 2 months. Anyway it turned out to be my thyroid producing to much calcium. They took the offending piece out and it now has been over a year and I have had no stones. They haven't even found any growing. Yeah!. Gf, I feel all your pain and misery with them. Hon, I hope you don't ever have them again.
R

I'd like to do this one.

mememememememem please

Well shoot Belinda, guess I will have to give my hand a try at this one too :o)

Love the hummer ;-}

I will be gone all weekend, leaving at 5 am will be back some time late Sunday night. I will chat with you all when I get back.

Connie

WOW! See what a few hours away from the 'ole puter can do???? I am so glad you guys fluttered over to the hummer swap so fast! :-) Very impressive! Welcome, welcome, welcome to all of you!

Robyn, every 6 months???? OMG, I think I might not make it if I had them that often. Gggggggggrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr - - - they DO hurt like NO other! Its just a constant pain that never lets up! I'm glad you found a good doc that figured yours out, you went through lots of misery before you found him!

silkie - - - GF.............how are you feeling? Is your daughter better now? I haven't spent much time online sinc these dang stones have taken over my thought process, LOL. I didn't want to type something, look back, and realize I had made an IDIOT out of myself! lmbo, yes I would do that! lolololol Hope you are doing much better now.

Connie, have a safe trip and we'll chat more when you get back home. I've been thinking a lot about your grandaughter. How is she doing? You can dmail anytime, if you would like or email me at bkstarnes@earthlink.net. :-)

Supper duty around here - - - I'll check in later tonight with you all. Have a nice evening!
Belinda

I have been trying to get hummers in my yard for the past 2 years. Maybe I'll get some seeds in this swap that will bring em on in!!!! I have a LOT of hummer plants/flowers in my yard, but I guess you can never have too many! (Especially when the hummers haven't found your yard yet!) LOL!

Please allow me to join this swap!! Sounds like just the swap I need to encourage me!!!

Belinda, Oh no Stones ewwwww OUCH, hope you get rid of them SOON.

Belinda sending you dmail.

Connie

hi therei count me in :)
pamsue

I have all the seeds, now I can decorate.

I'm back to work so I have to do this tween the gardening and cooking. Actually, that will be my relaxing time. hehe

later gators

we are still sick everyone else is fine. it's not as bad as it was though. how awefull about the stones, i'm sorry to hear that. my mom and my brother have had those and it is awefull to have to go through that. even the meds they gave them didn't fully help the pain they were hurting pretty bad. your in my prayers hun i hope they pass easily with no hurting and you get to feeling better soon.

yeah i feel i did that,lol. dh helped me and then it just isn't the same this time ya know. we'll see how it goes i guess, hopefully good i'm really looking forward to it. for this one i have about every seed ya listed above and then some so i should be good to go on that now to figure out how to decorate,lol. soon as i figure that out i'll get busy on it, i'm excited to see how they come out this time i'll be doing it all on my own, no kid's helping me decorate this time,lol.
silkie

Please add me . Not sure I have 15 varieties but will hunt around.

Hi Belinda- The last swap was so much fun, I can't resist joining in again. Thanks! cyndie

Becky, I bought some of those big windsock type Yard decorations that have lots of red or bright colors. Thats what finally attracted the hummers here. Then they finally found the Cannas and the other flowers and of course the feeders. The lady that lived in this house before us had 4 feeders out which she said she changed weekly to try to attract them, but none ever came. At the end of last year they were all over after I put those flaggy things up. The dollar stores usually carry them, you can hang them from trees your house or stick them in the ground with the sticks that come with them. I can't for the life of me tell you what the name of those things are. Some one help me out here. I bought a Flower, a flamingo, and a fish. I even bought a large childs windmill thing with all the bright colors. Try adding that in your yard with the flowers. Maybe something that big and bright will catch their eye.
Robin

Welcome, welcome, welcome to:
beckygardner
pamsue
starlight
cyndiehook
Glad you joined our hummer swap! Starlight, you don't have to send 15 different types of seed, just 15 total seed packets. :0) Hope that will help you.

Great ideas to attract hummers Robyn. One thing I've learned about hummers over the years is that they LOVE color. I too hang all different types of bright things around my porches and in my trees. I usually have anywhere from 75-100 per year. I love them.

Silkie, glad you guys are doing better. Being sick puts you behind on everything and if you are like me...............I hate to be behind on things. No, you did NOT do that, silkie. At all. You are a great hostess and I loved your swap! I'm simply trying really, really hard not to take on too much right now. I've got LOTS of irons in the fire during this time of the year - - - so I'm learning not to overdue. Especially until these darn stones pass. UGH, they have been miserable. And you are so right about the meds! They may slow the pain down, but they by no means stop it! Whhhhheeeeeeeeeeewwwwwweeeeeeee!!!!!!!

I don't know about anyone else, but TGIF for around here! LONG week for me. Often it seems like Friday will never get here! lol Hope you all have a great weekend and I'll check back in later today. I've got to try to get some laundry, housework, and other "not fun" stuff done today! :)
Belinda

Belinda, Drink lots of fluid, especially citrus stuff, Hold it and don't go pee until you feel like you're going to burst. Lots of time the large amount and the force push them out. It has worked for me. I feel so sorry for you. I know I would rather go through a natural child birth with no meds for triplets than to go through those things again. YUK!

If at all possible, I would love in on this one. I am new to butterfly gardening, and would love to attract more to my garden.

jelena went to the doc today she has a viral infection they said it would go away on it's own. she is misserable and don't want to eat much and has ulcer looking things in her mouth, yucky!! they gave her 2 shots today to so that didn't help much. hunter has an ear infection and got 5 shots for his school shots poor little guy and he is on antibiocs now.

i have had 5 kid's 3 i had natural, 1 emergancy c-section due to breach and the last c-section i could not imagine anything hurting worse than the problems and pain i had if stones are worse than that oh my gosh i so feel for you that is so horrible! i couldn't even imagine!! my mom said the same thing roobin just did it was how she had to do it. my brothers were to big to pass they had to crush them with sonic vibrations or something to get rid of them. he had an aweful time with them.

thanks gf, i love doing your swaps too. you are a great hostess also and lots of fun i always look forward to them!!! you becareful and please take it easy on yourself.
silkie

Thanks for the suggestions, Robyn and Belinda! Could one or both of you take a photo of what you are suggesting. I am not quite sure what these "windsocks ???" look like. Last year I tried a really crazy idea, but alas .... it didn't work either. I ran pipe cleaners with red plastic cups to the hummingbird feeder poles. I thought the bright red might attract them. So I'd sure love to see photos of other ideas.

Sorry to hear you have kidney stones, Belinda. Never had them, but my dh did and it was pretty ugly what he went through before he finally passed them. The idea to flush them out with lots of fluids sounds like a good idea. At least worth trying. I hope you pass them soon!!! Thanks Belinda for letting me in on this swap!!!

Mary - I hope you and your family are on the mend from being so sick. I finally caught a touch of the flu bug going around my classroom. But I am chomping down on the Vit. C to get over it fast!!!

Starlight1153 is Ella. Glad to see her joining in on this swap!!! :-)

Kay - Lucky for you that many of the flowers that attract hummers also attract butterflies! LOL!

Hey just read this can I jump in??? pretty please???
Susan

Oh and I cant resist. Ive run out of time to think of new ideas. Add me please.

Morning all!

Great!!!! I can do 15 packages. Thought they all had to be different. it it just flower seeds or is it tre e seeds too. Sorry to ask so many questions but am new to these type of swaps.

Great idea on the wind thingies Robin. Will stop at the dollar store and see if they have any, if not I know Lowe's does and usually the walmart or Kmart.

Thanks for supplying my name Becky. : ) Although I think it is questionable as to whether my mind is here or not some days. LOL

Gonna have fun trying to come up with decorating ideas.

belinda... Hope you get rid of the ks soon. Drink.. Drink.. Drink. and when you think you can't drink anymore... Drink. LOL

I wish I could provide a pic. I don't have a camera to do, maybe my daughter can do it with hers. I think she has one. If not I'll try to find a site for them.

Hung up my feeder yesterday, thought I saw one, course it could be this decrepid old mind of mine playing tricks on me. (Nothing new, it does it all the time, kind of like a brain fart)

Anyway, first day of work was pretty good. Long and tiring. I got to sit down 3 times, once driving into work, once coming home and once to go potty. It's been a couple of years since I was on my feet 8 hours straight. I hurt all over : ( but it also felt good to do something again.

Everyone have a good planting.

Welcome to the hummer swap:
kaykay1010
Susan51
sheran
So glad ALL you ladies joined us! And Becky, thanks for helping me with Ella's name! :0)

Thanks to all of you for the great tips on these terrible stones. I think that yesterday was the worst ever and Robyn you said it perfectly - - - give me triplet childbirth with no meds anyday over that again!!!!!!!!!!! Mercy, mercy me!!!!!! No pain compares to that, regardless.

Silkie, I hope Jelena gets better soon. Its terrible when your kiddos are sick. If you could only trade places with them..............it would be so much better!

Becky - I don't have a windsock up at the moment, but I will see if I can find a pic to share with you. :-) I have six hummingbird feeders up and they are all full with hummers at the moment. I do know that one important key is to have your feeders up early enough that when their scout comes through your area, he will be able to find your feeder easily and quickly. He then relays back to his crew, and brings them in!!!!

Robin, glad your first day at work went well................those first few days back to me, are the worst ever. Long, long, long and exhausting and nothing worse than hurting all over. UGH. I guess that I am thrilled to be able to work here at the farm, and not have to venture out into the work-world any longer............besides, I always dreaded getting all "gussied" up everyday! lolololol Just not my thing, if you know what I mean! :-) Hope it gets better for you! I'm rootin' for ya! :0)

I'm planning on spending the rest of today outside, planting, digging, and deweeding my gardens - - - and cleaning up around my coops. That nitrogen from their coop seems to be the best fertilizer EVER! Besides, you gals know me and my recyling! Have a great Sunday, and I'll catch you ladies first thing tomorrow morning!
Belinda

jelena is doing better now. i didn't know those attract them. i have a butterfly windsock,lol. what attract them the colors?

Hope you can see this: My first time attaching to the forums. But this is what I'm talking about.
R

Belinda - From your post, you sound much better! Did you finally pass that nasty stone?

Robin - Where is it that you are working that you have to stand on your feet all day! That's horrible! I do a lot of standing all day, too, but I have the option to sit down when I need to. I hope it gets easier for you over time.

Mary - Glad to hear the family and especially your daughter is getting better. I think there is as much germs going around in the Spring as there was this past winter.

Okay ..... I have another question ......

Thanks for the windsock idea! I did find one at the Dollar Store. But that was all they had. It's got green and pink colors. :-( Not red or orange.

My question ........ Is it the feeders that keep the hummers visiting your yard or the flowers? I haven't been taking the feeder thing real seriously because I've hung two for over a year and never had a single hummer come visit. So I have been continuing to plant the red flowering nectar plants in my yard. I have a LOT of red tubular hummer flowers in bloom at this time. Nodda hummer in sight. :-(

Robin and Belinda - Oh my gosh! Got it! I will be hanging my first windsock up soon. Thank you for the photos!

Robin - Wow! You have quite a few!!! So.... once they find you ... do you continue to keep the windsocks up or do you take them down. I ask because I know they will fade quickly here in hot, sunny Florida.

I put my feeders up about 2 weeks before They usually show up, which is before I have anything flowering. That way the scout can find a food supply early and he can tell the others. After that, they hit both plants and feeders.

I work at a bar and grill on the water. I live in south central Missouri at the Lake of the Ozarks, The lake is about 90 miles long, privately owned by an electric company. No army Corps of Engineers here. So people can live right on the lake or the waters edges. This is a little bar with a big menu and I cook. Standing all the time to cook is hard but not as hard as the concrete floor I have to stand on. lol. We are a heavily tourist area. Skiing, boating etc. It keeps ya busy from the time you walk in to the time you leave and I close the kitchen up, at least for now. They are looking for a couple of night cooks to take my place. Then I can go to days and do all the prep wor, which is what I want.

Silkie give the little one a big hug and tell her we all wish for her to feel better reaal soon. And one for you too. Give your hubby a big smack (kiss not the hand) on the cheek and tell him thanks for taking care of ya too from all of us.

I keep them up, The sun and wind beat them down here too. I do take them down in the winter though. Some make it to next year and some don't.

Thanks, Robin for the info on the windsocks and feeders. Eventually, I WILL get hummers and figure it all out. It's probably been hit and miss for me.

Can you use a rubber mat or something cushioned that you can stand on in the grill kitchen? Standing on concrete floors would be a killer on my legs and feet! Ugh! The Grill (location) sounds like Heaven!!!! In my mind, I can picture it! How beautiful right on the lake!!!

BTW - How is your granddaughter's garden coming along?

Around here it is the combination of flowers and feeders...............keep the feeders full, Becky and the flowers a bloomin' and they will find you. :-) I do take my windsocks down in the fall - - - but otherwise, I have them up year round. The hot Texas sun does fade them, but they are cheap enough at the Dollar store, that I purchase a few extras and call it good.
Becky, I did indeed PASS the nasty, nasty stones. UGH. ARRRRrrrrrggggggggggg. Enough of that. Whew. My goodness gracious, I could go the rest of my lifetime without having those again and it wouldn't hurt my feelings any! lol
Silkie, so glad Jelena is doing better. You guys have had a tough go of it for a while now..........its time for you all to be well for a while! :-)
Robyn, a cook! WOW, girlfriend, I am impressed! That is HARD work. My hat goes off to you. That is a tough job - - - and H-O-T too! The view sounds down right dreamy, sort of out of a movie scene. Pretty. Would love to see it. I've been to Branson several times, but never ventured out in Missouri past Branson. Sure is fun there, just a very touristy place!!!!!
Well, I've got to run start supper - - - I got LOTS done outside today and I'm wiped out now. Time to chill for a while, and hopefully Desperate Housewives isn't a re-run tonight! Chat with you ladies tomorrow! Have a nice evening.
Belinda

Belinda - Thanks for the additional info! And .... I am soooooooooo glad to hear that kidney stone is history!!! Whew! Now you need to make a point of drinking lots and lots of water every day to make sure you never get another one! :-) That's what my dh does now. LOL! He hasn't had anymore stones in 15 years!!!

ok i got a question the pic up shows what we call wind spinners here but we're all talking wind socks,lol. to me the wind sock is the bag fabric type ones with tails that float like a kite in the air not one on a stake that is in ground that spins. now should we have both or one or the other which is more helpful? i'll get some more stuff to put out for that part.

also i have a hummer feeder up, suiet basket, and like 3 feeders all different seeds and sizes along with icecycle spinners and windchimes above my birdbath water fountain. i never see anything except in the yard and have never seen a visitor to my stuff but the kid's say they have seen little brown birds like a chickadee or something. i also have 2 homemade bird houses up noone visits. what am i doing wrong?

i have them lined the whole length of my huge awening. is it because i don't have the right kind of flowers under them? the garden the length of it is peonies, roses, tulip, daffodils,hyacnths and lilies. should it be things that specifically attract birds or hummers right there? do the specific flowers have to be within so far away because i have beds everywhere here, i never thought about that before mabe they are visiting the other ones. if so then i will have to move everything in the bed and redo it. i don't want to because it is the first bed i did here when we moved but if it does i will make it a project to do this summer and clear it to somewhere else so i can specific plant for them. i don't have anyplace to hang stuff for them cept there and it is right in front of all the windows so we'd love to have the cuties come to visit us so not only can they enjoy but we also can enjoy them. any advice would be great.
thanks,
silkie

Good Monday morning ladies!
Becky, thanks for the kind words and YES, water is ALL I will drink for a VERY, VERY, long time! :0) No more stones for me! YIKES!
Silkie, about the windsocks/wind spinners; I would start out with both. The brighter the colors, the better off you will be. Another thing I have personally learned with hummers is that the do NOT like wind chimes. They are such a skidish bird, the rattling and chiming of the wind chimes startles them and scares them off. Can you move the chimes away from the feeder? If you really want to attract hummers, I have a few suggestions for you, that worked perfectly for me. Five years ago, I had ZERO hummers around here and now I have hundreds in one season. I started off by hanging five or six feeders around my yard, filled them with both red and blue sugar water. I found that the blue went twice as fast as the red. I make it bright blue! I hung several windsocks, wind spinners, large and small flags. I also filled my birdbath FULL of clean water weekly, and added a wide array of treats for them, such as: apples, oranges, grapefruit, kiwi, cantalope and honeydew melon. They loved the fruit buffet and I still keep fruit out for all my birds. Your gardens need to have hummingbird specific plants. There are many that they are attracted to. I made a list of about 30 types, and planted ALL of them in several areas of my gardens. Within the first year, Silkie - - - I had hummers and LOTS of other birds. I am an avid bird watcher and tend to spoil them quite often! lol I have my hummer plant list still and I would be glad to share it with you if you want me to. I hope this will help you get started - - - they are SO worth every bit of patience it takes to bring them in.
I love to have the windows up (like today!) and listen to the hummers buzz by, making that little chattering noise, flying 50 mph all around my house! This is one of my favorite times of the year! And, I read in my bird book, that hummingbirds have excellent memories, and will return to the same flowers and feeders year after year after year! Can't beat that! :-)
Hope you all have a great day today. I am headed outside for a while to work on my weeds. I have a canna bed that is in desperate need of de-weeding!
Belinda

sending you a d-mail.
thanks,
silkie

Good afternoon ALL, :o)
DH and I got back later last night than we would have, but we got caught in some construction on 75 to 23... WHEW it is good to be home, we did have a great weekend tho, the training sessions were really intense and time consuming... hard any free time at all... But was well worth the experience.

Belinda, just a suggestion so you aren't being bombarded by dmails ;-} why don't you put your list here so everyone that is interested can read it *grinning*

Well I am headed back out side b4 the storm hits... You all have a GREAT day,

Connie