Plants that attract hummingbirds A Lonicera sempervirens; B Ipomoea multifida; C Nicotiana alata; D Impatiens pallida; E Kniphofia galpinii hybrid; F Monarda didyma ‘Raspberry Wine’; G Cuphea ignea; H Pentas lanceolata ‘Red’; I Salvia farinacea; J Perovskia atriplicifolia; K Fuchsia hybrid; L Hybiscus syriacus ‘Red Heart’.

 

If you live in the American Southwest, you may see dozens of migrating hummingbird species. Gardeners east of the Mississippi and north may recognize only a few. The wonderful ruby-throated hummingbird (Archilochus colubris), named for the male’s shimmering iridescent crimson neckband, is the species most often seen. Hummingbirds are the garden’s smallest avian visitors. The average weight of a ruby-throat is three to four grams, less than a nickel. The “hum” for which they are named is the sound of their wings, which depending on the size of the species, beat up to 100 times per second. The unique movement of the wings allows the birds to zoom through the garden and to hover as they feed. It takes a lot of fuel to support this effort, which is why the birds seek their own weight in high-energy sugar water and nectar every day. The birds also eat insects for protein.

The birds sip nectar with their long, darting tongues from flowers like those of the trumpet vine (Campsis radi-cans and varieties), and pollinate the flowers in return. About 8,000 North and South American plant species depend exclusively on hummingbirds for pollination. Hummers will visit tubular and flaring blossoms that offer a rich reward. So you may find them feeding at the dark blue Salvia guaranitica, or on honeysuckle vines like Lonicera periclymenum var. serotina ‘Florida’ and the local scarlet native L. sempervirens, along with its ever-blooming yellow variety ‘John Clayton’. You can plant a few fragrant deciduous azaleas for your hummingbird garden: sweet azalea (Rhododendron arborescens) and the swamp azalea (R. viscosum). The birds will zoom to the small tubular flowers of red hot poker (Kniphofia spp.), even if the variety has cream or yellow blossoms.

Birds see colors pretty much as we do, and the longer wavelengths of red light allow that color to be perceived from a great distance. Commercial hummingbird feeders are usually red for this reason. (Skip the red dyed sugar water, and make your own solution: one part sugar to three parts water to attract them in spring, one to four to keep them healthy— no color needed). You’ll notice that the birds do not feed exclusively on red flowers. The quantity of nectar and the shape of the flower trump hue.

I always get excited when hummingbirds return in spring. Banding experiments identifying individual birds have shown that they return to their place of birth.

A male ruby-throated hummingbird stands guard atop Cornus kousa ‘Wolf Eyes’.