Low-Emissions Hummers
(Where They Fill Up)
Posted by: Kate Bryant on Aug 30, 2009 at 09:00AM
5 Comments
This hardy Fuchsia speciosa is flocked with hummers all summer
View Slideshow » Illustration:Hummingbird magnet plant: flowering maple (Abutilon ‘Louis Sasson’)
View Slideshow » Illustration:Mint hyssop (Agastache ‘Apricot Sunrise’)
View Slideshow » Illustration:Fuchsia magellanica (also known as “ladies’ eardrops”) with a hot pink Salvia greggii in foreground.
View Slideshow » Illustration:Hot pink Cape fuchsia. This isn’t really a fuchsia but a lookalike plant hailing from South Africa. Hummers love it.
We all love hummingbirds! These adroit creatures are a marvel to watch; their masterful hover and dive displays, the way they finesse the nectar from tubular flowers, and their penchant for dive-bombing people wearing red outfits is truly endearing. In our area, the two main species are the rufous hummingbird (migratory) and Anna’s hummingbird (year-round resident).
Observing these tiny, acrobatic creatures at a hummingbird feeder is a joy. But hummingbirds cannot live on sugar-water alone. They need insects to supply them with vitamins, minerals, and amino acids. And they need natural fuel – flower nectar. Lots of it.
To attract hummingbirds to your garden and keep them visiting, you can plant a year-round succession of suitable flowers in your garden. Natives are ideal – but many natives have a short flowering period, so you might need a few acres.
Or, you can plant a group of long-flowering perennials to fuel hummingbirds continuously from late spring through late fall and beyond. And while red is supposed to attract hummers best, they seem just as attracted to blue, yellow, white or any other flower color if it is rich in nectar.
My five favorite, long-flowering hummingbird plants that thrive in the Portland area are Cape fuchsia (Phygelius), hardy fuchsia (Fuchsia), flowering maple (Abutilon), mint hyssop (Agastache), and salvia (Salvia). These perennial plants flower non-stop from late spring to first frost and sometimes beyond. Yet each is so beautiful that it’s worth growing even if it weren’t a fantastic hummer pit-stop. Plant them and the hummers will come.
Recommended:
Phygelius ‘Moonraker’- sun to pt shade, unfussy about soil
Fuchsia magellanica ‘Riccartonii’ – sun to shade, unfussy about soil
Agastache ‘Apricot Sunrise’- full sun, very well-draining soil
Salvia guaranitica; Salvia greggii ‘Lipstick’ – full sun, well-draining soil
Abutilon megapotamicum ‘Red’ – full sun to pt shade, well-draining soil
This is the first year that I was not able to have these Hardy Fushias in my window boxes. I was saddened to learn my local garden center didn’t get any in… I always have good luck and lots of hummers love this plant.. and they get really full and loads of blooms. I’m in zone 5 Massachusetts about 20 miles north of Boston.
I was kissed last week by a young female Ruby Throat :) she was about 3 inches from my face going to a tiny tube feeder and her beak touched my forehead 3 times! Most amazing creatures, and it saddens me to think that they will be heading south in a wk or too!! I’ll keep my feeder out till Oct…:)
Hi- I just put out a hummingbird feeder- no luck yet. I live in Florida and am wondering how these birds are going to find my yard. Any suggestions for flowers?
Lisa, sometimes you can special-order fuchsias, salvias and other nectar-rich tender plants from local nurseries or mail-order them from White Flower Farm in Connecticut. I love your description of receiving a “hummingbird kiss”!
Donna, check out the Florida Native Plant Society. Florida has at least eight hummingbird species and many native plants that support them. Your beautiful FL native coral bean (Erythrina) is great for hummers, as are native FL honeysuckles. As for non-natives, try long-flowering shrimp plant (Justicia), cannas and salvias. As cold weather arrives up north, you may soon see more hummers appear down south. Plant rafts of nectar-rich red flowers like Salvia splendens to attract the birds and encourage your neighbors to do so, too. Hummers are more likely to stay if there’s plenty to eat in the neighborhood.
Wow Lisa, how did you attach the feeder tube to your forehead?(Ha Ha Ha- sorry) Kate- how tall do the agastache grow? The colours are amazing- I’m tempted to try and poke my own nose in for the nectar. Also, an interesting aside on Phygelias- I grow moon-raker in my hot dry summer garden, and it’s always wilting and miserable, but it’s flourishing year after year in a big terracotta pot shared with mint , half sub-merged in a garden pond- A bog-like situation I suppose. Meanwhile, the rosy-red with little yellow throated one( salmon-leap?) is perfectly happy in the dry hot bed…. Do you think they have different species ancestry? And I hopel donna will keep us posted on her Hummingbird situation…
Helen, Agastache ‘Apricot Sunrise’ gets 4 feet tall – I just measured – nearly twice as tall as the tag indicates. Why? Because we’re in western Oregon! As for Phygelius (Cape fuchsias), there are two wild species (P. aequalis and P. capensis) and lots of selections and crosses. Both reputedly grow naturally in stream-side locations in southeastern South Africa. Having said that, I’ve been surprised by how much neglect (in terms of watering) they can tolerate. I guess your garden soil is just TOO dry – or your soil may be sandy instead of moisture-retentive clay. I admire your idea of growing it in a damp, watery spot. Wonder what mine (all six) would look like if they were really watered?