How to Attract Hummingbirds to Your Garden
Hummingbirds are delightful little birds that are a joy to watch when they visit your garden. They are primarily nectar feeders but also eat a variety of insects. Here are some tips on how to attract them to your garden.
Few garden visitors are as exciting and beautiful as are the hummingbirds.
There are more than 330 species of hummingbirds all found in the Americas, but only a few species migrate and visit gardens in North America. Yet throughout North, Central or South America gardeners cherish these winged-wonders that excite and captivate anyone who is lucky enough to see them. While many hummingbirds pass through our gardens unnoticed, keeping them coming back all summer can be as easy as setting out a nectar feeder or better yet – planting some of their favorite flowers. Here are some of the best ways to attract hummingbirds to your garden no matter where you live.
Nectar Feeders
The easiest way to attract hummingbirds is to set out nectar feeders either in your garden or near windows (as many hummingbirds are not shy). It helps to learn a bit of the natural history of the particular hummingbird species found in your region to know when they arrive in spring.
What many people don’t know, is that Ruby-throated Hummingbirds often arrive much earlier in North America. Savvy bird watchers set out nectar feeders long before the first spring flowers or before trees leaf out in spring in mid-March through April. Early arriving Ruby-throated Hummingbirds feed not on nectar (as it is too early for flowers), but on sap drawn from active woodpecker feeding holes. If nectar feeders are set out early, one is more likely to have hummingbirds stay for the summer.
If you live in a warmer climate such as the South Western US, Central American or South America (where Hummingbirds are active year round residents), it’s wise to keep nectar feeders up throughout the year.
What to Feed Hummingbirds
Nectar feeders are often filled with a pre-mixed commercial nectar, but one can make a good substitute at home. Mix 1 part of refined white sugar to 4 parts of boiling water until the sugar is dissolved. Experts recommend to never substitute honey, brown sugar, or agave syrup or to add red food coloring. The mixture is safe to keep in the refrigerator for up to two weeks but should be replaced in outdoor feeders weekly.
Planting a Garden to Attract Hummingbirds
While nectar feeders are useful in initially attracting migrating hummingbirds early or late in the season, once flowers begin to bloom, hummingbirds begin to adjust their diets, adding insects and opting to visit real flowers if given a choice. Gardeners are at an advantage as they can plant nectar-rich plants, often ensuring that hummingbirds will stay around longer. Since many flowers that are attractive to hummingbirds are also attractive to humans, this can be a win-win situation.
8 Plants That Hummingbirds Like
Red flowers are a first choice, but also the shape of a flower often provides a good hint. Long, tubular shaped flowers are evolved to be pollinated not exclusively by insects, but often by nectar feeding birds.
1. Columbine – Spring visitors can’t resist the dangling, nectar rich flowers of Columbine. Both native species and hybrid columbine attract hummingbirds in northern gardens from April through June.
2. The Mint Family – All flowers in the mint family will attract hummingbirds, but especially the larger flowered species. This includes all Catnip (Nepeta sp.) true mint (Mentha sp.) all Salvia including the sages and bee balm (Monarda sp.). Plants in the mint family have a four-sided stem (like a square, when cut), making them all easy to identify.
3. Cardinal Flower (Lobelia cardinalis) – Maybe the most iconic of hummingbird flowers the Cardinal Flower blooms in late June through mid-July. The wild species prefers damp or wet conditions and partial shade, but many hybrids and selections are now available in a wide-range of colors for perennial borders. All the colors will attract hummingbirds.
4. Petunia – Tube-shaped flowers with flared petals are incredibly irresistible to hummingbirds. Petunias and their close allied the calibrachoa, are nectar-rich and will attract hummingbirds regardless of their color. Still, the richer, saturated jewel tones will work better than the near-black varieties or pure white.
5. True Lilies (Lilium) – True lilies (not daylilies) are an excellent mid-summer addition to the hummingbird garden. Lilies produce copious amounts of nectar as well as large flowers that make accessing such nectar easier. The tall, downward-facing or outward-facing Oriental lilies, Trumpet lilies and Intersectional lilies produce more nectar than do the early-blooming, up facing Asiatic lilies.
6. Blue Lily of the Nile (Agapanthus sp.) – Although most are blue or purple, Agapanthus often will steal the hummingbird show in mid-summer when they bloom either in large containers or out in the garden in temperate zones.
7. Fuchsia – Whether grown as an upright shrub, potted plant or even as a hanging plant, Fuchsia is not only a go-to summer flower for hummingbirds; they are often a primary wild source for food in South America where many migrating hummingbirds spend their winter. Look for upright forms with long, slender flowers for the best results and nectar production.
8. Lantana – Mid summer and late summer flowering plants that with lots of blooms are tempting to hummingbirds, but factor in tubular shapes and hot colors and you have a virtual hummingbird magnet. Lantana check off all of these boxes. Look for hanging plants or upright varieties for pots, window boxes and in the garden.
How to Attract More Hummingbirds
Hummingbirds will stay and nest for the summer if they find a food source but it’s not unusual to only see a pair in your garden until later in the summer. Hummingbirds are fiercely territorial especially while nesting and raising young earlier in the year. By mid-summer however, they become slightly less territorial. By late summer one may see more than a pair of hummingbirds, especially at nectar feeders. They still may fight, but often will just keep their distance while the opposing foe is feeding on a favorite plant.