[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next][Date Index][Thread Index]

Re: Red Morning Glory: Don't try this at home!



hey Josh,

uh-oh, once again, i've evoked the wrath of the plant police. i'm such a bad
boy. i don't want to get off on a rant here (nod to DM,) but as my
employment is directly related to conservation of ecosystems and their
inhabitants in the coastal plain of SC, i am a bit more than somewhat
familiar with your argument. so humor me. po' lil' hummers and butterflies;
some would even begrudge you the weeds growing on a spoils site in autumn,
when fewer "native" nectar sources are available, and in a spot where few
"native" flowering plants would grow anyway. by the way, there were many
more butterflies (richness and diversity) on the various morning glory
blooms than hummers. also a number of Hymenopterans. but maybe we shouldn't
have too many of these creatures around; i mean, we might be exceeding the
carrying capacity of the available 'native' habitat. that might be a bad
thing. shucks, maybe these animals aren't even "supposed to be there." oh
my, what are we doing?

also Josh, I. quamoclit reseeds freely and creates stands without any human
assistance. if you'd like to see some evidence of that, i can hook you up.
;-)

besides, these plants have been here for a cpl hundred years or so, so
they're not "alien" anymore, they're naturalized. sorta like the humans
here, ya know? also, birds can carry seeds a right good ways, so
(speculatively) some of 'em would probably get here anyway, with global
warming and northward range expansions and all of that. please forgive my
digression.

i'm going to plant I. coccinea anyway, and anything else i find that feeds a
hummer or a butterfly and doesn't require constant pampering on this 8,000
sq. ft. of semi-xeric sandridge i live on. it should fit quite nicely with
about 3 dozen other flowering plant species not "native" to the SE US, or
North America, or the Western Hemisphere even, all of which i currently
cultivate specifically to feed a number of hummingbirds (3 spp. so far) and
butterflies (49 spp.) in this little ecological hell where i reside (i do
have a good number of 'native' plant spp. as well, and continue to add to
that number, thank you very much.) 5 years ago you could hardly find a bird
or a butterfly 'round this neighborhood; now the neighbors complain about
bird poop on their vehicles and i'm getting threatened over somebody's pet
cats that i keep chasing out of the yard and i'm pulling butterflies out of
hummer traps. well that's just too bad ain't it? but i can't live without
birds and butterflies and i'm going to do what i can to keep 'em alive
around where i am. for a bird or a butterfly, there's food here 365.25 days
a year. they might have to do some pushing and shoving to get to it, but
it's here and there's more than all of 'em can eat, guaranteed.

DISCLAIMER: your mileage may vary...

oh yeah, seems the 'aliens' wouldn't abduct me since i'm doing a pretty good
job of seed dispersal. if it ain't broke, don't fix it, ya know. ;-)

happy gardening everybody,

;-)
gary

gary phillips
conway, sc
sunset zone 31

"...where is the person, I ask, who, on observing this glittering fragment
of the rainbow, would not pause, admire, and turn his mind with
reverence..." (J.J. Audubon)
----- Original Message -----
From: "Joshua S. Rose" <jsr6@duke.edu>
To: "carolinabirds" <carolinabirds@duke.edu>
Sent: Sunday, October 05, 2003 4:09 PM
Subject: Red Morning Glory: Don't try this at home!


> On Sun, 5 Oct 2003, gary wrote:
> >
> > Ruby-throated hummers - a bunch nectaring on the most Red Morning Glory
> > (Ipomea coccinea) blooms this side of all them south Louisiana
hummingbird
> > gardens. i went ahead and got me some seed, y'all.
>
> Hey y'all,
>
> It may not be coincidence that Gary was abducted by aliens the same day he
> collected Red Morning-Glory seeds. Ipomoea coccinea, also known as
> Redstar, Scarlet Morning-Glory, and assorted other English names, is
> listed by the North Carolina Botanical Garden as a "Plant to Avoid". It's
> also listed as an invasive alien in Virginia, and the National Park
> Service reports it to be a problem weed in Tennessee. Arizona has legally
> prohibited planting it and classifies it as a noxious weed.
>
> http://www.ncbg.unc.edu/plants-to-avoid-SEUS.htm
> http://www.dcr.state.va.us/dnh/invlist.pdf
> http://www.vnps.org/invasive/complete_list.html
> http://plants.usda.gov/cgi_bin/plant_profile.cgi?symbol=IPCO3
> http://www.invasive.org/browse/subject.cfm?sub=5760
> http://www.nps.gov/plants/alien/list/i.htm
>
> Yes, hummingbirds like it, but they like an awful lot of things, including
> Japanese Honeysuckle. Anybody who absolutely has to have a red-colored
> Morning-glory, go instead for Cypress-Vine (I. quamoclit), or for the
> quamoclit X coccinea hybrid Cardinal Climber (I. multifida). Barring
> global warming, neither of these two species can survive the winter here,
> so can only be propagated with direct human assistance. Cypress-vine has
> filamentous, feathery leaves, while Cardinal Climber's are deeply lobed,
> as opposed to Red Morning-Glory's big heart-shaped leaves.
>
> We have I. multifida in our window box. It brought in what might be our
> last hummer of the season, last Monday; have not seen any traffic at
> either flower or feeder since...
>
> On a brighter note, got to sneak off to Ellerbe Creek for half an hour
> this morning. Entered from Westover Park, the opposite end of the greenway
> from Indian Trail Park. Most exciting sighting was a Sharp-shinned Hawk
> that looped up into a leafless tree, glared down at me with one of those
> if-looks-could-kill kinda stares, and then flew off. Otherwise, mostly
> resident species, gorging themselves on the abundant Pokeweed berries
> (Brown Thrashers and Catbirds) and Beggar's-ticks seeds (Goldfinches). And
> one House Wren that stumbled out of the trailside grass practically at my
> feet!
>
> Josh
>
>
> Joshua S. Rose
> Duke University
> Department of Biology (Zoology, R.I.P.)
>
> jsr6@duke.edu
> http://www.duke.edu/~jsr6/
>