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We love watching hummingbirds at our home in Texas, and wherever our travels take us across the country. We also enjoy hummingbird gardening, and designing our landscape to provide food and shelter for a variety of hummingbirds.
Hummingbirds, like other birds and other animals, need food, water, and shelter, the basic necessities of life.
Food and water seem obvious requirements, but shelter and protection are also important to attracting hummingbirds. The dense foliage of trees provides not only protection but also a source of insects and the protein they provide. Trees and large shrubs provide a resting place between meals at the feeder or flowers.
Our landscape features a number of different ecological environments. It is in the country, and backs up to hundreds of acres of forest, with nearby fields and pastures.
Favorite flowers of hummingbirds are often red in color, and tubular in shape, so we include many plants with these features.
We often have over 40 Ruby-Throated hummingbirds on our feeders at one time during the fall migration southward through Texas. At times we are also blessed with several brightly colored Baltimore Orioles on our feeders!
We currently have an assortment of butterfly bushes planted, and all are favorites of the butterflies as well as hummingbirds.
A hummingbird favorite in the landscape: Butterfly Bush |
Butterfly bushes (Buddleia davidii) usually bloom from mid-July through frost, producing long 4-5 inch flower spikes which look and smell like miniature lilacs.
Buddleias produce a honey-scented fragrance that lures butterflies to its blooms, and then once there, they find the flowers super-rich in nectar.
We utilize both full-size and dwarf varieties, in white, purple and reddish colors. Full-size species can grow large in just one season in a mild climate, perhaps 6 feet high and 6 feet in diameter.
Make sure they are planted in well-drained soil, and resist the temptation to overwater them.
The major drawback to butterfly bushes is that they never drop their dead blooms. We cut the dead blooms periodically, and also trim the bushes in areas where space is a limitation. They are often frost proof to about 25 degrees; below that, they will freeze to the ground, and in milder climates spout and grow from their base the following spring.
Easy to grow, heat tolerate: Lantana |
We love lantana, as evidenced by the fact that we have over 45 plants growing now, consisting of several varieties, from yellow to white to red to orange.
Lantanas are perennials in much of the South, and will flower in full sun or light shade, preferably in well-drained soil. As semi-desert natives, they bloom best when not overfed or over watered.
They are winter-tolerate in much of the South, and even in areas where they freeze to near ground-level, they readily sprout again in the early days of spring.
In addition to Lantana and Butterfly Bush, our landscape often includes Zinnias, Pentas, Milkweed, Salvia, Batface Cuphea, Hot Lips, Fire Bush, Nasturtiums, Coreopsis, and other hummingbird-friendly plants, annuals and perennials.
Another popular hummingbird plant: Batface Cuphea |
But we also plant other blooms that, while they may not be hummingbird favorites, provide additional color in the landscape: Gladiolas, Geraniums, Hydrangeas, Impatiens, Verbena and roses. All deliver bright colors, and hummingbirds love color!
Other landing and feeding spots include (depending on the season) dozens of Azaleas, Pansies, Impatiens, Knockout Roses, Creeping Phlox, Daffodils, Hydrangeas, Portulaca and Gladiolas.
Planting the right flowers is an important element in establishing the right environment for attracting hummingbirds.
But you need another key attractant: the hummingbird feeder! As the Texas migration peaks here in late August and early September, the hummingbirds start to share feeders, an action unheard of during the summer when defending a feeder is the norm. As sharing continues, we will see 6-8-10 hummingbirds on a feeder at a time.
Read more about hummingbird feeders on this website
Shown below are a few photos of features of an effective butterfly garden, including shelter, a variety of flowers and hummingbird feeders!
Hummingbird garden with low-hanging feeder.
This is a great solution if you have no pets or raccoons! Put the feeders at eye-level
for the enjoyment of the hummingbirds, and you! |
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| Hummingbird feeder nestled in a Butterfly Bush ... the hummers love it! |
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Shown below are photos of several of the flowers that are popular and easy to grow in home gardens ... all favorites of hummingbirds!
Zinnia |
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Orange Marigold |
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Purple Butterfly Bush |
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Purple Butterfly Bush up close |
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Purple Butterfly Bush with a Hummingbird Moth |
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White Butterfly Bush |
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Batface Cuphea |
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Hot Lips Salvia |
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Orange and Gold Lantana |
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White Lantana |
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White Pentas |
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Pink Pentas about to bloom |
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Fire Bush.
Produces clusters of tubular, orange-red flowers. Attracts hummingbirds, and butterflies. Hardy to 20-30 degrees. |
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Red Hibiscus |
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Other plants and flowers might not be hummingbird favorites, but we use these plants for additional color in the landscape ... hummers love color, and are attracted to it! And the hummingbirds try all kinds of flowers!
Deep Orange Day Lily |
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Orange Bougainvillea |
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Purple Verbena |
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Mexican Heather |
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Ornamental Peppers |
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White Gladiolas |
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White Periwinkle |
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Red Geraniums |
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Pink Hydrangea |
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