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Plants for Hummingbirds

Attracting Flying Jewels to Your Garden

The best plants for hummingbirds are those that have tubular flowers.

Hummingbirds have the perfect apparatus; their long slender bill houses a very long tongue, capable of retrieving nectar from even the longest of blooms.

**Lillium ‘Monte Negro’**

In some cases, the flowers will open in sequence, starting at the bottom of a long raceme or spire.

Many Lillium species have new blooms opening continuously over several weeks to make sure the pollen and nectar is available for a long season.

Wildflowers provide the best nectar for hummingbirds, providing them with all the nutrients they require.

**Castilejea**

We like to think they need us for filling hummingbird feeders but they actually get all the nutrients they require from flowers blooming in the wild.

Their preference is for Lonicera (honeysuckle) both bush types and the scrambling vines, some of the wild orchids of damp meadows and the wild Clarkia and Epilobium or fireweed and the Indian Paintbrush, Castilejea as well as many others opening in sequence throughout the nesting season.

**Hummingbird nectar plants**

Hummingbirds will be attracted to many perennial xeric plants that you might already have growing in your garden; Bergenia cordifolia, Monarda didyma, Penstemon, Aquilegia, Lobelia cardinalis, Campsis and Campanula as well as many herbs like Oreganum and Salvia species.

Annual plants that particularly attract hummingbirds are Ipomoea, morning glory vines, petunia and Pelargonium, the ornamental geranium.

Grown in containers they will flower in profusion and draw all the feisty little jewels in the neighborhood.

**Bergenia cordifolia**

Houseplants on a deck or patio for the summer can be a magnet for these fascinating pugnacious birds.

A fight will break out over the tall flower spikes of Aloe if you can convince them to bloom.

A nectar corridor of blooming plants of all kinds will benefit not only hummingbirds in their search for nectar, but many beneficial insects and pollinators too.

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Hummingbirds

Xeric Gardens

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Wildlife and Birds

Important Visitors to your Xeric Garden

Xeric gardens are important places for birds and wildlife - they can find food, shelter and water, the three most crucial things for their survival.

Don't be too quick to condemn insects or spiders - they are useful too. Trying to find out what kind of insects you have? Check the Insect Encyclopedia. Look for your spider on the Spider Identification page.

Many prey insects such as aphids will be attracted to dill or other nectar producing plants. In turn, they will feed wasps, crickets, ladybugs and many other beneficial insects.

Lizards and snakes can give you a good scare if they move suddenly - their talent for mimicry protects them from predators, but it also means that we don't see them until they move. Give them room to hide; warm stones in a rock retaining wall, and a hibernacula to spend the winter in, and they'll be happy.

Hedgerows and shelterbelts are important places for birds in the summer, to raise their young, find insects and berries, and in the winter they hold snow to prevent soil erosion, and serve as a water capture system.

You may find that hedgerows are not limited to wildlife habitat, they are also valuable for growing craft supplies.

Xeric gardens truly are the multi-taskers of the the natural world.

Find all pages to do with wildlife in your xeric garden on the Wildlife Site Map.

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