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How to Attract Hummingbirds

I was chatting with a friend today about attracting Hummingbirds so I did a little research.

Here's some links to some sites about Hummingbirds.

http://www.hummingbirds.net/attract.html - plants

http://www.hummingbirds.net/feeders.html - feeders

One of my favorites for plants is hanging baskets with fuchsias. Fuchsia like morning sun and afternoon shade and not a lot of heat. If you are in a hot area, just make sure the baskets get a lot of water. Hummers love Fushias. If you put your feeder near the hanging basket, they will find it.

They also love petunias, and penstemons. Any type of flower with a throat...

Honeysuckle is another good one if you have a yard that will handle it.

http://www.hummingbirds.net/images/lonicera.jpg

Or Columbine

http://www.hummingbirds.net/images/aquilegia.jpg

Quote:

Originally Posted by ewizabeth (Post 265640)

Hi Brain,

Is that like a saucer magnolia with big pink blooms in the spring? I love those! :)

I got my sister a Pee-Gee Hydrangea "Grandiflora" tree for her birthday. I ordered it online and she should get it soon. It's a beautiful tree that we both love. :) She has a beautiful yard and garden and I can't wait to see it when it blooms. It gets 10-15' high and 8-10' wide with huge blooms up to 12" from mid-summer to early fall. She'll use it as a centerpiece in her flower garden. :ooo:

I bought a couple of shrubs yesterday, a snowball viburnum that is beautiful in spring and fall and has summer berries for the birds. I also got a hydrangea shrub for the front yard. The rabbits don't eat my other hydrangea perennials so I figured that would be a good choice.

I'm taking out the burning bush and moving it to the backyard where it won't be so unsightly after a winter of chewing by the rabbits.

I planted two rhododendrums in the front and divided my hostas, Annabelle hydrangea to plant in my new bare spot where we took out the old bush.

I also got some perennials for my front flower garden, including a painted daisy, foxglove (for a shady corner), poppies, and some white phlox.

I have to do a lot of dividing and transplanting of my other flowers and I'll be good for new stuff this year.

I'm going to cover my shrubs this fall with a chicken wire around them so maybe the coming winter won't be so bad with the rabbits.

Our neighbor came over and showed me her new puppy, a German Shepard beauty named Bear. I hinted that I wouldn't mind if she played in our backyard to discourage the rabbits. :icon_idea: ;)

Have you grown foxglove before? In my area, it works as a biennial. It'll come up one year, bloom one or two years, then you have to rely on it reseeding itself, or you have no plant. If you allow the flower stalk to fall over when the blooms fade, generally its seeds will fall out and plant themselves and grow.

Once the plants have 3-4 leaves, you can move them if you like. Don't wait till they're too big - then they don't transplant as easily.

(things I learned the hard way.)

:p

Cheryl - I'm not sure which mock orange yet. I'll have to see what's available locaaly. My neighbor has one that he says blooms most of the summer and it is awesome, both how pretty it is and how aromatic it is. I'd like one like that.

And thanks for the hummy links!

I have half those plants, lol! The comumbine, the texas salvia, the bee balm, beard tongue, trumpet vine, coral bells.

They go for the salvia the most. I collect the seeds in the fall and just toss them all over the beds in late spring. Great plant.

We had a honeysuckle, and it tore shingles and gutters off the house. we tore that bad boy down, lol. The trumpet vine is going by the fence, just to be safe.

And then there are the orioles ........ I put out fresh oranges this morning and they are already eaten. :eek: I have to dash out and replace them. It's awful that they cost so much this year and the birds are eating just as much.

Quote:

Originally Posted by braingonebad (Post 266166)

Have you grown foxglove before? In my area, it works as a biennial. It'll come up one year, bloom one or two years, then you have to rely on it reseeding itself, or you have no plant. If you allow the flower stalk to fall over when the blooms fade, generally its seeds will fall out and plant themselves and grow.

Once the plants have 3-4 leaves, you can move them if you like. Don't wait till they're too big - then they don't transplant as easily.

(things I learned the hard way.)

:p

Cheryl - I'm not sure which mock orange yet. I'll have to see what's available locaaly. My neighbor has one that he says blooms most of the summer and it is awesome, both how pretty it is and how aromatic it is. I'd like one like that.

And thanks for the hummy links!

I have half those plants, lol! The comumbine, the texas salvia, the bee balm, beard tongue, trumpet vine, coral bells.

They go for the salvia the most. I collect the seeds in the fall and just toss them all over the beds in late spring. Great plant.

We had a honeysuckle, and it tore shingles and gutters off the house. we tore that bad boy down, lol. The trumpet vine is going by the fence, just to be safe.

Be careful of the Trumpet Vine. It can also be pretty invasive and tear down the fence. Honeysuckle can be pruned back so it doesn't get so "wild" and rip down fences. A lot of people don't know that.

Also the butterfly bushes should be pruned down to the ground each year to keep them from getting out of control. I prune mine with the chain saw down to about 3-4 inches from the ground!

Sounds like you've got quite the perennial garden for the attracting airborne wildlife!!! We get a lot of butterflies...but also a lot of hornets and wasps. Thank goodness for pest control.

We've had about 5 hummers that return each year. It's about time to put out the feeders. :D

Brain, Thanks for the tips on Foxglove. I'll make sure to let it go to seed in its little corner. I got stakes for some of my tall plants too.

I planted some Columbine last year and it's coming up! :) A couple of other perrenials but I don't remember what they are at the moment. After all of these mature I can go crazy dividing and sharing with my neighbors.

Cheryl,

We get a few hummers every August through October. When should I put out my feeder to see if they show up in the spring? Would I do that now? Or wait awhile?

Quote:

Originally Posted by ewizabeth (Post 266216)

Put them out now around the plants that attract hummers.

Read this thread about attracting hummers...

http://neurotalk.psychcentral.com/thread44275.html

Hey guys, I just got inside and Im sore and frustrated. If youve covered
this topic please refer me to the post number.:(:confused:

A little background........ I have a wire pasture fence down the length
of my property on one side of my house. Its long, about 500 ft long.
It separates my property from a large field/pasture. This spring I noticed
that my pussywillow tree had very few pussywillows on it. And that
it was completely wrapped in that bittersweet carp:mad:

On further investigation of the fence, I noticed it was falling down because a
wooden post had snapped, I noticed that this carp was wrapped around
all the wire of the fence. :mad: I dont think I ever noticed it as in the summer
all the vines make this beautiful , natural, green wall. These vines are
not all bittersweet.

My question is after being out there for an hour, clipping all the bittersweet
from around the fence and now Im in terrible pain.(and I only got rid of about 10 feet of it) HOW do I get rid of this ??? I mean CAN I get rid of this?:(:confused:

Help please, I dont want the whole fence to go down because its really
old and I fear it will. I also like the way it looks in the summer.

TIA:)

Sox, for a job that size I'd probably use an herbacide. Make sure it's a calm day so the wind doesn't blow the spray on plants you don't want to kill. And if there are other plants close, you can use a drop cloth to protect them until the spray dries.

I can't recommend one spray over another, as I rarely use any. Last year, I grabbed some at the dollar store (of allplaces. Who knows what's really in that stuff?) It was called Maxide and it worked like nothing I've ever seen.

I've tried Roundup, and it was not strong enough to kill our poison ivy and elephant ears. Maxide did it in one spray.

There are probably a few that would work for you.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Av8rgirl (Post 266190)

Fortunately, the fence is pretty new and sturdy. I'll keep an eye on it though. The trumpet can get fairly large around here, but most of them don't get too out of control.

I do have a lot of pests, now that you mention it. Any ideas for getting rid of carpenter bees and yellow jackets? I don't mind the bumble bees and dragonflies, but the other ones are down right mean.