Sunday, August 23, 2009

Hummingbirds and Campsis flowers

Trumpet creeper (Campsis radicans) is a great native vine with beautiful tubular orange flowers, but often disparaged because of its strong vining habit (read fast-growing).


A venerable ~100 year specimen at Biltmore Estate, in Asheville, NC has been carefully trained to cover a large arbor to the left of the house.


Much to our delight, a female hummingbird well-used to human visitors, was busily foraging in open flowers, close enough to get some nice shots with the help of the 18-200 lens. (Click on the photos for a better look!)