Pretend with me for a moment that you could only have one plant in your garden specifically for attracting hummers. What would you choose???
I'm beginning to plan out a small hummer nook, and want the best bang for the space :)
So, let's hear it :) What's the all-time, very bestest hummer plant???
If you could plant just ONE hummer plant...
Salvia greggii. :-)
Salvia fulgens.....my Sunbirds go C-R-A-Z-Y for it. They visit many other things in the garden, but they spend 90% of their time in my garden at the Salvia fulgens.
Giant Cuphea or Hamelia patens
Donna, I couldn't find that in the Plantfiles... could you tell me more, please?
The cuphea(Cigar plant or the CandyCorn Plant) would probably be best for your zone. It dies back but grows back fast or it over winters great in GH and keeps blooming. Here is my friends web site. She has most of the varieties. The Bat-faced are really cool looking and the night moths love those. http://toptropicals.com/cgi-bin/garden_catalog/cat.cgi?uid=CUPHEA_IGNEA
If you do a search in the plant find box at the top of this page it will bring up a page with all the Cupheas on it
There are several salvias that will grow in your 6a zone. They are my favorite plants & it seems that they are also the hummers favorite. Here is a site that has a list of several hummer plants for your area: http://www.shawcreekbirdsupply.com/hummingbird_plants.htm
I agree with everyone here...any Salvia will thrill your hummers.
Or try the coral colored honeysuckle. It of course will grow vertically--maybe up a wall or tree-- and perhaps not take quite so much room from your garden....
http://www.killerplants.com/plant-of-the-week/20020805.asp
Attracts butterflies too.
Our walmart sells that cigar plant, I didn't realize it was good forhummers.
I'll have to watch for it, and get some, I guess I could over winter it in the greeenhouse if I remembered to dig it up.
kathy
"Overwinter it in the greenhouse"....hmmmm....I have no GH :) I'm not to the "tropical" stage of my garden fetishes just yet :) I try to stick pretty close to the actual recommend zone (insert audible gasps from 98% of Dgers here). LOL :)
Salvia sounds fantastic and I'm planning on it :) Most of the garden is in shade a good bit of the day (around 2-3 hours of mid-morning sun). The place for the salvia will get full sun, though. I'm also thinking impatiens, coralbells, and of course hosta! :)