A good hummingbird garden takes more than just flowers for the hummingbirds. Aside from the nectar filled flowers you will grow, a good hummingbird garden must also consist of an entire habitat for the birds.
Make certain that there is always fresh water available for drinking as well as for bathing.
Create both sun and shade areas in your hummingbird garden. Hummingbirds need a place in shade to perch as well as to build their nests.
Willows and Eucalyptus trees provide nesting materials which your hummingbirds will use, along with bits of leaves, spider webs, moss, and lichens to build their tiny nests.
Hummingbirds must feed 3-5 times per hour and your hummingbirds may become reliant on your garden for it's food, but there may be periods when there are no blossoms from which they can get nectar. It is a good idea to provide hummingbird feeders hung about thirty feet apart throughout your garden for these times. The best color for a feeder is bright red to attract the birds from a distance. Never fill your feeders with anything but sugar-water mix of 1 part sugar to 4 parts water. Do not use food coloring of any kind, and never, never use honey. (Honey can develop a fungus that can be fatal to hummingbirds.)
Keep your feeders clean and filled!
Hummingbird's favorite flowers
Keep in mind that hummingbirds are attracted to flower colors and nectar, not fragrance. Some cultivated hybrids produce less nectar than their wild counterparts, but they still make excellent additions to your hummingbird garden.
Perennials
- Bee balm
- Butterfly weed
- Cardinal flower
- Columbine
- Coral bells
- Cosmos
- Dahlia
- Delphinium
- Flame acanthus
- Foxglove
- Fuchsia
- Geranium
- Hollyhock
- Lupine
- Monkeyflower
- Penstemon
- Red hot poker
- Sage
- Scarlet sage
- Speedwell
- Verbena
Annuals
- Mountain garland
- Four-o'-clock
- Touch-me-not
- Flowering tobacco
- Nasturtium
- Petunia
- Spider flower
- Zinnia
Bulbs, corms and tubers
- Tuberous Begonia
- Canna
- Gladiolus
- Iris
- Montbretia
Vines
- Bougainvillea
- Cardinal climber
- Flame vine
- Honeysuckle
- Lantana
- Rosary vine
- Trumpet creeper
- Trumpet vines
Shrubs and trees
- Abelia
- Azalea
- Bottlebrush
- Butterfly bush
- Catoneaster
- Eucalyptus
- Flowering currant
- Flowering quince
- Fuschia tree
- Hibiscus
- Lilac
- Mimosa (silk tree)
- Strawberry tree
- Wild lilac
- Weigela
Publishers Note: This column contributed by GardenHelpers.com. Please log on to this site for a full range of hints on attracting humming birds to your garden.
