What perennials, shrubs and trees do you find are irresistible to hummers in the Mid-Atlantic area?
Plants that attract Rubythroat Hummingbirds
I have had good luck with Lobelia, cardinal flowers especially red varieties. Red and trumpet shaped seems to be the most attractive to them, though they will come to other types as well. I'm a touch out of practice in my hummingbird courting though. We spent the last three years up in Alaska, and it was a hard place to garden. I'm back in PA now though, so hopefully we can share some Mid-Atlantic success!
my alabama honeysuckle and cross vines salvias my feeders hehe um actaully alot of my honey suckle vines but really love the alabama Lonicera sempervirens comes in different colors though
have yellow in it too.
my four o clocks when in bloom thats all i can think of right now but know there is more out there.
I found that Jacob Cline Monarda (red bee balm) is irresistable to hummers. I had visitors several times a day every day last summer at my school garden. Never did catch a pic though.
This message was edited Apr 20, 2008 8:11 AM
Hummingbird watchers...
I'm new at this. Do magenta flowers draw hummers as well as red ones do?
I know they love my mimosa tree, and the blooms are not bright red, but more of a pink. Maybe they're also drawn to certain scents with reddish colors.
Lots and lots of salvias and sage (both perenial and annual), red morning glories, cypress vine, red petunias, coral bells, foxglove.
I am getting some Scrophularia to try. It is supposed to be well liked by humming birds, and by the shape and color of it, it should be a good one for them.
Cannas and trumpet vine are big attractors here.
Also red buckeyes, one of the first springtime bloomers here.
Once the hummers are attracted to you yard, they will utilize many of your flowers. Mine expecially seem to like evening primrose - a wildflower that gets pretty tall, and they are yellow, and I agree with lots of the other flowers listed above. What really surprised me, though, is that they even like the blooms on the hosta -- and those are light lavender, on mine. I'd always cut them off because I didn't much care for them -- but not any longer. The hummers hit every little bloom up and down the stalk.
The red blooms may attract them to the yard, but they will hit anything that has some nectar in it, while they are there. They even hit my white Flowering Tobacco - Nicotiana, and they liked the coral nymph sage, too.
Enjoy your hummers --
T
Theresa
Bee balm, cypress, trumpet or honeysuckle vines. Salvias, sage,ect they even go to my iris that are blooming now and when the daylilies start they will be seen occasionally at them too. It is always so fun to have them in the garden. I have up feeders but enjoy seeing them at the flowers. My elderly parents always have petunias and they love those!
Teresa in KY
In my yard, the bottlebrush bring them in, and the Mexican Cigar Plant and Firebush (Hamelia species) are probably the most frequented. But, Agastache, Lantana, Salvia, and Cuphea are also favorites. They also love the Mexican Sunflower (Tithonia).