By Paul A. Thomas
University of Georgia
Volume XXVIII
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My wife Toni and I have been gardening for hummingbirds for
many years now
and have learned a few things along the way.
We’ve learned, for instance, that you need six to eight
hummingbird feeders
per half-acre of land — two or three in the open for males
and the rest in
the tree canopies for the females and young.
And we’ve learned some garden enhancements that increase the
number of birds
that stay in your area. There are some essential things your
garden should have
to signal to a passing hummingbird visitor that your garden is
a paradise.
With a little preparation, you can greatly increase the
chances of these birds
settling down and raising their young, ensuring that future
generations will
remember each spring that your garden says, “Welcome home!”
Provide year-round nectar
To do this, you’ll need plants that will provide nectar
beyond what you cook
up for your feeders. Since no plants bloom for the entire time
the hummingbirds
are around, you’ll need a proper mix of flowering plants.
Early-flowering nectar
Some native plant species cause hummingbirds to put on the
breaks and visit
the garden.
An easy choice is Aquilegia canadensis (native
columbine). This plant
is easily grown from seed and blooms very early in March or
April, weather permitting.
A most essential plant is the buckeye. Aesculus
parviflora (bottlebrush
buckeye), A. glabra (Ohio buckeye) and A. pavia
(red buckeye)
all attract hummingbirds with late-spring, early-summer
blooms.
In fact, when A. glabra is in bloom in the woods in
May, the hummingbirds
rarely visit our feeders, seemingly disappearing for a week or
two each spring.
Another essential specimen is Lonicera sempervirens
(red honeysuckle
vine). This blooms in March and April and has been a big
attraction to the earliest
of visitors. Trellis this plant on the west or east side of
the house for best
results.
Our native Campsis radicans, or trumpet creeper, is
the famous plant
many hummingbird feeders are designed to duplicate. The vines
must be pruned
each fall to generate short plants and many flowers, but the
result is hummingbird
heaven for two to four weeks in May and June.
Midsummer nectar
Midsummer is perhaps the easiest time to provide nectar in
the garden. All
of the plants we recommend are full-sun-loving plants that do
well in Georgia
soils and tolerate drought fairly well.
My favorite is Salvia guaranitica (blue sage) a
Georgia Gold Medal Winner.
The blue flowers continue all summer if trimmed after each
flower flush, and
it’s particularly attractive to baby hummingbirds.
Vitex ‘Agnus Castus’ (chaste tree) is a wonderfully
tough, small tree
that hummingbirds adore in midsummer. It has blue flowers,
too.
Cleome (spider flower), Dianthus barbatus (sweet
William), Buddleia
davidii (butterfly bush), Impatiens hybrida (common
impatiens) and
Monarda didyma (bee balm) are essential garden
plants.
Late-summer nectar
It’s essential to keep feeders filled during August and
September, as dry years
can see a dearth of flowers.
The best choices are Lobelia cardinalis (cardinal
flower), Salvia
coccinea (pineapple sage), Lantana camara ‘Miss
Huff’ (a sterile
lantana and a Georgia Gold Medal selection), Ipomea
cultivars (morning
glories and cypress vines), Canna generalis (cannas)
and Verbena bonairiensis
(upright verbena).
They eat bugs, too
Hummingbirds visit many other plants, but not for nectar.
Hummers eat a great
many small insects such as gnats, and many genera of the
Compositae family
such as Eupatorium, Aster and Dendranthemum attract gnats.
It’s great fun to
observe speeding hummingbirds dive-bombing the flowers or
skimming effortlessly
over the tops of the flowers, picking off tiny snacks.
