How to Create a Hummingbird Garden Habitat

A good Hummingbird Garden takes more than just Flowers for the Hummingbirds

Rufous Hummingbird

April 3,1999
What flowers are good to plant to have hummingbirds visit your flower garden.
My mother has an Angles trumpet that she has a hummingbird visit.
Are there other flowers I can plant? Thank you for your time..
***
*

Aside from the nectar filled flowers which you will grow, a good hummingbird garden must also consist of an entire habitat for the birds. Make certain that there will always be a source of fresh clean water available for drinking as well as for bathing.
Create both sun and shade areas within your hummingbird habitat. Your hummingbirds need places in the shade to perch on as well as to build their nests on!
Willows and Eucalyptus trees provide much of the nesting materials which your hummingbirds will use, along with collected bits of leaves, spider webs, moss, and lichens to build their tiny nests. Hummingbirds must feed 3-5 times per hour to provide enough energy to keep your hummingbirds going. Once they have chosen your garden to nest in, they may becomecompletely reliant on your garden for for their source of food. There may be periods of time when there are no blossoms available for them to collect natural nectar. For that reason it is a good idea to provide supplemental hummingbird feeders, hung about thirty feet apart throughout your garden.

Hummingbird Feeders

The best color for your 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!
Never, ever, ever use honey (Honey can develop a fungus which can be fatal to hummingbirds)
Always keep your feeders clean and filled!

Hummingbird Flowers and Plants

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 habitat garden.

Perennials	Perennials	Annuals	Bulbs	Vines	Shrubs Trees
Bee balm Monarda didyma	Butterfly weed Ascelpias tuberosa	Mountain garland Clarkia elegans	Tuberous Begonia Begonia	Bougainvillea Bougainvillea	Abelia Abelia grandiflora
Tuberous Begonias		Begonias need bright, filtered light, with maximum light in winter. Allow the soil to only dry slightly between waterings. Provide additional humidity
Columbine	Aquilegia	12-18"	Columbines are a favorite flower for hummingbirds, and are excellent additions to rock gardens or in a native woodland planting	3-9
Cardinal flowerLobelia cardinalis	Columbine Aquilegia	Four-o'-clock Mirabilis jalapa	Canna Canna	Cardinal climber Ipomoea quamoclit	Azalea Rhododendron
Azalea	Rhododendron	Azaleas must be grown in an acid soil, with a pH of 5.0 to 6.5. They will not tolerate lime.
Morning Glories	Ipomoea	Fast growing annual vine, readily reseed themselves for the next year.
Coral Bells	Heuchera sanguinea	12-18"	Glossy, 3 inch, deeply lobed green to purple leaves; clusters of scarlet flowers on a stout 15" red stems in early-mid Spring	6-9
Coral bells Heuchera sanguinea	Cosmos Cosmos	Touch-me-not Impatiens	Gladiola Gladiolus	Flame vine Pyrostegia venusta	Bottlebrush Callistemon lanceolatus
Cosmos	Cosmos bipinnatus	Cosmos are extremely heat and drought tolerant.They like full sun and do well in poor, unfertile soil
Chocolate Cosmos	Cosmos atrosanguineus	The dark maroon flowers appear on wirey 18 inch stems from June until frost and produce a pleasant chocolate scent
Dahlia Dahlia	Delphinium Delphinium elatum	Flowering tobacco Nicotiana alata	Iris Iris	Honeysuckle Lonicera	Butterfly bush Buddleia davidii
Butterfly bush	Buddleia davidii	The Butterfly Bush will grow up to 15' tall in almost any type of soil. Plant in full sun or light shade.
Trumpet Honeysuckle	Lonicera sempervirens	May need support when first starting out, profuse evergreen bloomers. Great for hummingbirds.
" title="Photograph of a Goldflame Honeysuckle">Goldflame Honeysuckle	Lonicera heckrottii
Dahlias	Dahlia	Dahlia plants range in height from as low as 12 inches to as tall as 6-8 feet. The flowers can be as small as 2 inches or up to a foot in diameter.
Bears Breeches	Acanthus spinosus	4 ft.	Large spined leaves	7-10
Flame acanthus Acanthus mollis	Foxglove Digitalis purpurea (Biennial)	Nasturtium Tropaeolum majus	Montbretia Crocosmia	Lantana Lantana	Catoneaster Catoneaster
Foxgloves	Digitalis purpurea	3-6 ft.	Foxgloves prefer moist, well draining, fertile soil but can survive drought and almost any growing conditions.	4-9
Fuchsia	Fuchsia	1-4 ft.	Fuchsia care is often determined by where you live and your climate. Fuchsias can be seed grown or struck from softwood cuttings	7
Fuchsia Fuchsia tricolor	Geranium Pelargonium	Petunia Petunia hybrida		Rosary vine Ceropegia woodii	Eucalyptus Eucalyptus
Hollyhock Althea rosea (biennial)	Lupine Lupinus hybrids	Spider flower Cleome hasslerana		Trumpet creeper Campis grandiflora	Flowering currant Ribes odoratum
Red Flowering Currant	Ribes sanguineum	Flowering Currants produces clusters of red flowers which attract hummingbirds, butterflies and bees, and berries to be eaten by birds.
Monkeyflower	Penstemon Penstemon	Zinnia Zinnia		Trumpet Vine Bignonia tagliabuana	Flowering Quince Chaenomeles
Creeping Zinnia	Sanvitalia procumbens	Creeping Zinnia is a bright little yellow flowering annual plant. They should be planted in rich, well draining soil, in full sun.
Beard Tongue	Penstemon Barbatus	12-24"	Tubular flowers in red, pink, purple, or white will be sure to attract butterflies and hummingbirds to your garden.	4-9
Pineleaf Penstemon	Penstemon pinifolius	10-18"	Dark orange flowers, needle-like foliage; blooms June to September	7
Red hot poker Kniphofia uvaria	Sage Salvia officinalis				Fuchsia tree Fuchsia arborescens
Perennial Sage	Salvia nemorosa	3 ft.	Narrow erect plant with irregular leaves, spikes of small purple to white blooms in the Summer	5-10
Speedwell	Veronica prostrata	8"-12"	Forms mat of woody stems and saw-toothed leaves; spikes of small blue flowers in early Summer, Hummingbird flower	5-9
Scarlet sage Salvia splendens	Speedwell Veronica hybrids				Hibiscus Hibiscus
Verbena Verbena					Lilac Syringa
Lilacs	Syringa vulgaris	5-8 ft.	Lilacs require full sun for maximum bloom. They prefer a slightly alkaline soil (pH 7.5).	3-7
					Mimosa (silk tree) Albizia julibrissin
					Strawberry tree Arbutus unedo
					Wild lilac Ceanothus griseus
					Weigela Weigela rosea

Search The Garden Helper: