Hummingbirds are a welcome sight for most gardeners and bird lovers alike. It's hard not to be mesmerized by their often iridescent color, aerial acrobatics and ability to hover in midair while drinking nectar from feeders or flowers.
A yard with flowering shrubs, vines and dwarf trees provide the hummingbirds with shelter, security, shade and food sources. Moving water or misters also attract these delightful birds. These garden plantings will provide a natural Hummingbird habitat that will attract them to your yard year after year.
Hummingbird feeders require frequent cleaning, so plants may be the easiest and lowest maintenance way to attract them to your yard.
Planting perennials with different flowering times will ensure you have hummingbirds continually through the spring and summer, which is usually May through late August.
Adding hanging baskets and pots to your garden with some of their favorite flowering annuals will also provide continual feeding spots and photo opportunities when placed close to seating areas. Bright colored plants attract the hummingbirds so be sure to include shades of red, orange and blue for best results.
Avoid using pesticides on your plants, these can sicken or kill the birds as well as the bugs.
We have a healthy population of hummingbirds on our property, including visitors inside the greenhouses. Once we open up our cooling panels, the hummingbirds cannot resist the vast selection of flowering plants inside. Numerous trips are made to and from their nesting areas outside, with rest stops on the greenhouse rafters. Colorful, tubular flowers hold the most nectar and provide more time to observe the hummingbirds while feeding.
Here is a list we have observed of some of their most favorite plants:
| Abutilon | Flowering Maple, as well as members of mallow family |
| Agastache | Hyssop |
| Aquilegia | Columbine |
| Butterfly Bush | Buddleia |
| Cuphea | Cigar plant |
| Fuchsia | Fuchsia |
| Ipomoea | Morning Glory |
| Lantana | lantana |
| Lonicera | Honeysuckle |
| Monarda | Bee Balm, Bergamot |
| Salvia | Sage, includes Black & Blue Salvia and Pineapple Sage |
| Verbena | Verbena-trailing varieties in hanging baskets |
Other garden perennials to try include Dianthus, Heuchera (Coral Bells), Delphiniums, Lupins, Penstemon ( Beardtongue), Phlox paniculata ( Tall, Garden Phlox)
If you are interested in creating your own baskets and pots, we are available to help with suggestions of plant materials that will work best for your sun or shade locations. We also will have available custom planted pots ready to place in your yard.