attracting birds to our backyards

Hi there !!

I said I will do this post...well sure..I was hoping to do the pictures of the plants, but , what i have is so smal, some stuff I just planted, so I think, that I will just "do" the list of names, and for pics of the "stuff" google images, will do the justice...

Hummingbird plants :

*corydalis scouleri *hairyhoneysuckle
*red flowering currant *hardy fuschia
*bleeding heart * all and any penstemon`s
*columbine

Well, that should get any hummer busy...LOL ..ofcurse dish with sugarwater is a must..all seasons...hihi!!

For all other birds, like: northern flickers, stelers jay, scrub jay, american robin, varied thrush, western kingbird, bullock`s oriole, western tanager, black headed grosbeak and all the finches we are lucky to have here all the berry`s I was just dreaming of, back in Arizona...LOL, like :

*thimbleberry *pyracantha
*salmon berry *blackberries
*serviceberry *strawberry ground covers
*western spiraea *red huckleberry
*cascade oregon grape (or tall oregon grape)
*kinnikinnick
Ofcurse, one can just imagine, that nobody can live on "fruit diet" only...hihi!! , so besides any mixed seed, we would need:
*peanuts (jayes, woodpeckers, crows and squirrels)
*peanut butter mix (any flying , mobolized bird will go for it)
*suet (anybody..LOL.. woodpeckers,bushtits,nuthatches and chickadees gonna be your daily ..well ...all day visitors)
*cracked sunflower seed
*cracked corn
And, because I m birds crazy...I feed monkey chow to crows and dog or cat food to also crows and ...yes starlings..I love them to !!!
I also display bird houses for any takers...LOL so far i have 2 pairs of starlings, many pairs of sparrows (this, one should investigate..yet..LOL)..and pair of woodpeckers banging on one of the bird houses..LOL.Happy birding!!!!! Pic of the bleeding heart.

Great list birdscrazy. I can't emagion wanting the jays to come. I fought terriable with them on the coast. They gobbled everything in site. First they would empty the bird feeders, then the dog dish, then the pigs food. But I love all the tweeties, and hummers are of coarse my favorites. I have all that you listed pluss trumpit vine. perinal sweet peas, lusifers, and many more for them, pluss I hang out about 8 to 10 feeders. Not to spoiled are they around here.LOL! I put 2 out last week cuz my sis msantique said she had a few but nothing yet. We had a few really nice days now so I'm on the look out.

Debbie

I have had one hummingbird feed up for 10 days or so and haven't seen any yet. So today emptied and cleaned, refilled, well not full but some and also hung up another one. The hummers are very late this year, but of course our weather has been pretty cool. I have had to move my wisteria bonsai in every night to keep the buds from freezing and also the one expensive hanging basket I bought last week. the wind machines in the orchards have been running each night. Maybe tonight won't be quite so cold. Hasn't reached 70 degrees daytime yet. But my ornamental cherries are blooming. Actually my two apricot trees have been thinned by the frost, I hope there are still enough so that I will get to eat some fruit from my own trees.

DonnaS

Well hi Donna, long time no see. Yes it has been cold at night. Our cherries, peach and necturiens are all in bloom! Yikes! It's saposto get 70 tomarrow. Yes I need to redo mine also. Don't want the little guys getting hung over on there first day here.
Debbie

Easteners, it shouldn't be long now. I've had a couple of hummers for two weeks. They must be among the first?

Same here Katie - in fact I FINALLY got around to putting out the food for them today. Wasn't it gorgeous? I got to work outside - pulling weeds such fun! And even ran over the hill and bought a bunch of flowers at my girlfriends nursery. Now I'm ready for bed as the great outdoors got to me. Maybe in the 70's this weekend. Whoopie! Gonna start doing containers for my deck but I'll just bring them out during the day and put them in the greenhouse for the night. Enjoy this weather!

My mother just moved into retirement housing, and she's really missing the birds that used to visit her yard in the mid-west. She has a patio outside her place, so I planted a container for her with a Hancock snowberry and a few perennials. I had read that the snowberries would attract birds, but I don't know what kind. Does anyone know what other plants might do well in a container that will attract birds?

My Gardenview Scarlet Monarda is best grown in a container and is an absolute magnet for hummingbirds. Want about three bushels of it? I loved how the hummingbirds would flit and soar fighting over the bright scarlet patch all summer. That was 3 years ago. Now, I only want to kill the monarda like it's a blackberry or a horsetail LOL.

I'm serious, I'm ripping and burning it, if you want a start for your Mom, Dmail me. But keep it in a container- gets to 3 ft tall, double type usual monarda style flowers.

Tomorrow I will try to post two photos of how easily we attract nesting birds around here. Every year, it's the same old story....

wooo-hoo...I better get my hummer feeders up! I didn't realize it was already that time of the year! :-)