By Norman Winter | Horticulturist, Author, Speaker

The Vermillionaire cuphea has won twenty awards, including a Perfect Score in Minnesota, Top Performer at Oklahoma State, and a Perfect Score at the University of Tennessee to name a few—and it will win at your house too!

Now, after growing seven more years, including seven at my home on a forested hillside in west Georgia, I can say this is a must-have plant

When I say must-have, you may be thinking that is a pretty strong recommendation. Now in late July/early August, my plants are about 24 inches tall and 36 inches wide.

The orange-red tubular flowers are non-stop and produced by the hundreds on each plant. There are always five or six hummingbirds on them, leaving occasionally to go hit on my giant Amistad salvia.

The bees are there in great numbers, too, and every once in a while appear to challenge a hummingbird. This usually ends up with the hummer quickly showing who’s boss.

The thing that has surprised me most, however, are the butterflies. Every day there are Spicebush swallowtails, Eastern Tiger swallowtails, and even Pearl Crescents. This is truly a plant for anyone who enjoys the pollinator garden.

I have mine intermingled with

My son, who I sometimes consider the “Adventurous Color Designer,” uses them in large containers with lime-green ornamental sweet potatoes, and even calibrachoas. He uses them extensively at an outdoor shopping center, where the clientele is often stunned at seeing hummingbirds at the mall.

Botanically speaking, Vermillionaire is a Cuphea ignea hybrid. It develops into a woody- like plant and, as I said, bears hundreds of scarlet orange flow

milkweeds and the colorful Luscious Basket Tangeglow lantana. The combination has been very pleasing and successful.

ers for months.

In zones 8 and 9 it will get knocked to the ground by freezes, but normally returns faithfully in the spring, provided it doesn’t sit in water during the cold winter. It is growing in colder areas as an annual, much like you would a petunia.

When you locate your Vermillionaire cupheas, buy at least three, select a site in full sun and plant in well-drained soil. Set out plants 24 to 36 inches apart, planting them at the same depth they are growing in the container. Apply a good layer of mulch, water to get established and then enjoy.

In early summer, pinch growth as needed and more branching will follow. My son does this religiously, while I tend to leave them naturally. Both methods have proven very successful. But even planting in August will have you feeding hummingbirds and butterflies until frost.

Feed in mid-summer and again in early fall with a light application of a balanced, slow- released fertilizer. These species are drought tolerant, but watering during prolonged dry periods will pay dividends come fall.

Plant them informally in the garden rather than in straight rows. They pair beautifully with

other hummingbird favorites, such as firebush, Luscious lantana, and the new Chicklet Gold esperanza.

Blue flowers, like the spikey Rockin ‘Playin The Blues salvua, create partnerships you will want to photograph as much as the hummingbirds. A lot of hot weather remains, and Vermillionaire cupheas would make a fine addition to your garden!

Norman Winter is a horticulturist and national garden speaker. He is a former director of the Coastal Georgia Botanical Gardens. Follow him on Facebook at Norman Winter “The Garden Guy.”

By Ann Asher

Bats have never had the best public relations team.

They come out at dusk, fly in quick, uneven patterns and have spent too many years being tied to scary movies, old barns and Halloween decorations. For a lot of people, the first reaction to seeing a bat is not appreciation. It is usually something closer to ducking, squealing or hurrying back inside.

But out in the real world, especially across Texas, bats are doing quiet work most of us never see.

While we are closing gates, turning off barn lights, watering the last few plants or heading toward the house for the evening, bats are just getting started. Many of the bats found in Texas feed on insects, including moths, beetles and other night-flying insects.

That makes them part of the natural system working across farms, ranches, ponds, creeks, barns and backyards after dark.

For farmers and ranchers, that matters. Insects are not just a backyard nuisance. They can affect crops, gardens, livestock comfort and the general balance of the outdoors. Bats are not a cure-all, and they are not going to wipe out every mosquito or pest insect on a place, but they are beneficial wildlife. They eat at night, when many birds and other daytime predators are no longer active, which gives them a different role in the landscape.

One of the biggest misconceptions about bats is that they are blind. They are not.

Many bats use echolocation to help them find insects and move through the night, but that does not mean they cannot see. Another old fear is that bats want to fly into people’s hair. They do not. A bat flying low or

That said, bats are still wild animals. They should be respected, not handled.

Rabies is the main safety concern people think of with bats, and it is a serious one. Not every bat has rabies, but any bat that is found on the ground, acting strangely, unable to fly or found inside a home should be treated with caution.

No one should ever pick up a bat with bare hands. If a person or pet may have been bitten or scratched, or if there is any chance of contact while someone was sleeping, local health officials or animal control should

close is usually chasing insects or trying to navigate away, not looking for trouble.

be contacted for guidance.

Common sense goes a long way. Keep pets vaccinated. Teach children not to touch wildlife. If a bat gets into a house, do not panic, but do not ignore it either. Close off the area if possible, keep people and pets away, and contact the appropriate local professionals if there is any concern about exposure.

Around farms and ranches, bats may roost in trees, bridges, barns, old buildings or other sheltered places.

Sometimes that is not a problem. Other times, especially if bats are entering living spaces or heavily used work areas, they may need to be excluded.

Timing matters. In some

For landowners, the goal does not have to be turning the place into a bat sanctuary. It can simply mean understanding that bats have a job to do. They are part of the same outdoor world as songbirds, pollinators, frogs, owls, deer and the insects we notice whether we want to or not.

They are also a good reminder that not everything useful is pretty, popular or easy to appreciate at first glance.

Some of the hardest-working creatures on a farm or ranch are the ones we barely see. Bats do not ask for attention. They do not announce themselves in daylight. They simply take the night shift.

So, the next time you see one dipping and turning through the evening sky, maybe resist the urge to think of it as something spooky.

Think of it as a neighbor clocking in after dark.

Not a pet. Not a monster. Just wildlife doing its work while the rest of us head inside.

cases, sealing an opening at the wrong time can trap young bats inside or create a bigger issue. Wildlife professionals or Extension resources can help property owners understand the safest and most responsible way to handle a bat colony in a structure.

Some people choose to put up bat houses, and they can be a good option when placed correctly.

However, a bat house is not a guarantee that bats will move in. Location, height, sun exposure, temperature and nearby habitat all matter. Natural roosting areas are also important, which is why dead trees, wooded edges, water sources and undisturbed spaces can play a role in supporting bat populations.

By Ada William

A few weeks ago in church, our preacher shared a line that has stayed with me ever since.

“If you’re wondering what door to walk through, pray in the hallway.”

He was quoting someone else, but I did not catch the original source. I did, however, catch the message.

Most of us have found ourselves standing in that hallway at one time or another. We know something is changing, but we do not know what comes next.

There may be several doors in front of us, and none of them are clearly marked. We ask God to show us which one to open, but the answer does not always come as quickly as we would like.

Waiting is hard. People who live and work in rural communities understand waiting better than most. Farming, ranching and caring for animals require patience. You can prepare the ground, plant the seed and pray for rain, but you cannot force a crop to grow overnight. You can breed the best mare to the best stallion, provide good feed and proper care, and still wait nearly a year to see the foal. You can put up hay, repair fences and prepare barns, but you cannot control what kind of winter is coming.

There is a great deal of faith involved in rural life.

You do your part, and then you wait.

Of course, waiting does not mean doing nothing. A farmer does not plant a field and then ignore it until harvest. There are weeds to control, equipment to maintain and weather forecasts to watch.

A rancher waiting for a calf crop still checks cattle, watches the condition of the cows and

makes sure the calving pasture is ready.

The waiting season has work of its own.

I think the same is true when we are waiting on God to show us what comes next. Praying in the hallway is not simply standing still and staring at the doors. It is using that time to draw closer to God, listen carefully and prepare ourselves for whatever He may ask us to do.

Sometimes I want an immediate answer. I want God to make the right door obvious, open it wide and place a large sign above it that says, “This way.”

That is not usually how it works.

Sometimes the hallway lasts

longer than we expected. A job opportunity does not come through. A relationship changes. A plan we felt certain about falls apart. A prayer appears to go unanswered.

It can be tempting to grab the nearest doorknob simply because we are tired of waiting.

Anyone who has worked cattle knows that pushing too hard at the wrong time usually creates more trouble. Cattle move better when the handler pays attention to pressure, timing and position. There are moments to step forward and moments to back away. Trying to force movement before the path is clear can scatter the whole herd.

I have had times in my own

life when I tried to force a door open because I was convinced it was the one I needed. Other times, I hesitated to step through a door because it was not the one I had pictured.

Looking back, I can see that some closed doors were protection. Some delays were preparation. Some unanswered prayers were answered differently than I expected.

That does not mean waiting becomes easy. It simply means the hallway is not wasted space.

The hallway may be where God changes our plans. It may be where He strengthens our faith, corrects our attitude or teaches us to depend on Him instead of our own understanding.

It may be where we finally become quiet enough to hear what He has been saying all along.

Rural life teaches us that there is a season for everything. There is a time to plant and a time to harvest. There is a time to mend fence and a time to move cattle. There is a time to work, a time to wait and a time to trust that what we cannot see is still being handled.

When the right door opens, we may understand why the others remained closed. We may also never fully understand, at least not in this life.

Either way, we can trust the One who sees beyond the hallway.

So, when I find myself unsure of what comes next, I hope I remember the words I heard that Sunday morning.

I may not know which door to walk through.

I may not know when it will open.

But I know what I can do while I wait.

I can pray in the hallway.