welcome to NC! ok- as far as the honeysuckles the one you want to avoid is the japanese one, lonicera japonica. you can plant coral honeysuckle which is vigorous, but not invasive, and unfortunately not fragrant. it's lonicera sempervirens. it's a gorgeous coral red with yellowy throats that the hummers adore, and blooms heavily in spring then on & off all summer through fall. there are some yellow flowered cultivars of it. there are some other honeysuckles and i'm sorry i can't recall the names, that look a bit more like the jap kind, but are flushed with pink and gold and behave well and have fragrance that the hummers enjoy. campsis radicans, trumpet vine-aka cow itch-aka trumpet creeper is a native vine, but it is pretty invasive. i have it on my prop and let it grow up into one tree for the hummers, but keep the rest mowed off at the ground. it's like maypop- it comes up far and wide form the original from underground runners. cross vine- bignonia capreolata, is semi-well behaved. it's a native, too- and it's everywhere for me, and hard to eradicate where you don't want. it likes to climb high and flower- it flowers at about 40-60' in my trees. i think the improved versions like tangerine may flower more profusely for you than the straight species. hummers love both cross and trumpet vine, and i have both growing up big trees and flowering very successfully. they also like carolina jessamine, another native that can get a bit unruly. it's yellow, unlike the others, and so it could offer some contrast. another thing you may not have considered for hummers, is coral bells, heuchera species (look for the ones with red or pink bells- so many now have smaller dingy white flowers). and most of the salvias are magnets, too, even the blue ones like guaranitica. they like annuals like petunias, morning glories and million bells, too. more uncommon vines like manettia and mina lobata tickle them for later in the year. all that said, i'd be cautious about planning to plant too much this year though, with the drought. the likelihood of it continuing is too great, and water too scare to water much. if you are going to plant, do it soon while the earth is still moist and the things can get well established before it gets too dry. even with that, there's a good chance you'll lose much of what you plant now. i think i'd be content to get 2 or 3 feeders and hang those to draw in the hummers this year. best of luck with your gardens!

I have a John Clayton that is about 1 1/2 years old, planted on the south and west corner of my home. It had flowers even during this past cold winter. Now it has lots of flowers but not much foliage. Of course, that could be something I'm doing wrong. It is a neat vine and the hummers like it. andy

Hi June, I have had "GoldFlame" for two years now, and while it still isn't as thick as I would like it, I would say it is a keeper. I got mine locally in Ocala and it is almost constantly in bloom, growing in full sun, unfazed by frosts and freezes and has no problems. I did manage to get two cuttings started this year that will be up for grabs at my swap next week. Here is a picture I took of it last year - nova

Sorry it took so long to reply. I looked at my weigelas and they seem to be in a mixture of full sun and partial sun. Once the roots are established, it can be trimmed to shape it up. Or, you can let it wind around. It just goes where it wants. I try to keep mine a little trimmed. The hummers like them but they try others. For example, I have "Abelia, Edward Goucher" (I keep my plant identifiers that come with the plants) that the hummers will vist and land on the branches. I notice that they visit the "Nepeta, Walker's Low" before they come to the feeder (I have an image of it on my blog). They visit the butterfly bushes too. I also bought some small hummer plants--can't remember the names--after the hummers were coming. My goal was to plant a backyard that bloomed from Spring to Fall without thinking of the hummers. By dumb luck, I ended up with a nice mixture of plants that the hummers seem to enjoy too. I think I have one family of hummers. The boss male, any females he is successful with, and the kids. Its usually 3 to 5 hummers and then a couple of pass-throughs. Here is a link that might be useful: Bir Bird, Little Bird