Pineapple Sage and Hummingbirds

I couldn't resist checking out the herb plants at Atwoods this week and came away with 2 new ones, pineapple sage and chamomile.   I've had chamomile before.  It is famous for the wonderful herbal tea that can be made from its flowers.  I'll elaborate on chamomile a little more next time.  It's the pineapple sage that I am most excited about. 

Most sages are perennials.  I already have a perennial variety that makes a small shrub and is the typical sage you think of using in stuffing at Thanksgiving.  Pineapple sage, however, is a only "half-hardy", meaning in Oklahoma it won't survive the winter outside. True to its name, it does have a wonderful pineapple smell and I think will make a great tea.  But, better than that it is supposed to produce scarlet flowers that will attract hummingbirds!  Here is a picture.

I really got into feeding hummingbirds last summer.  Recall that we had only lived here on the farm about 3 months at that time.  But, one afternoon I was out on the south patio, when a hummingbird flew up right in front of me and basically asked me where the feeder was.  I had a feeder at our old house and remembered unpacking it and putting it somewhere.  Uh...where had I put it?  Finally, I found it, cleaned it up and made some sugar water for it.  You should never put red food coloring in your hummer feeders.  It is bad for the birds and the color that is on the feeder itself is all that is needed to attract them.

Before I knew it I was having to fill the feeder daily and finally bought another larger one to supplement it.  There were times when there were 4 -5 birds feeding at the same time, but the most I was able to photograph at one time was 3.  See below.