Let's take a look at what types of flower's our little demanding friends would love for you to have in your garden.
****Agastache
(Hyssop) hummingbird mint is an absolute favorite. Comes in so many colors and variations.
****Salvia
(salvia/Sage) comes in a complete array of colors, heights, and foliage textures. Finding one that grows in your zone is an easy task.
****Penstemon
Native penstemon may be a little harder to get your hands on, but so worth the effort. These beautiful, tall spiking flowers are a hummingbird magnet. Available in an array of colors that can flower in all different seasons. This will help give a pop of color throughout the year. Parryi penstemon (aka Parry's penstemon) penstemon barbatus (aka buglar), penstemon eatonii (aka fitcracker penstemon) names but a few.
****Anise hyssop
This large, sprawling attraction will bring in native bee's, butterflies, and moths. It is a great source for all beloved pollinators.
****,Ipomopsis
Locating this one is a bit more tricky. There are native varieties per zone or region, but these are not readily available for sale. So I recommend joining some swaps to see if you can aquire one for your zone. Ipomopsis aggregata, Ipomopsis Ruba (aka standing cypress), Ipomopsis multiflora names just a few.
Let's talk vines; tubular vines are requested.
**Crossvine
**ipomoea quamoclit, (aka cypress vine/cardinal vine)
**trumpet vine comes in multiple colors, red, orange, yellow, pink. **Rivers trumpet -(Distictis 'Rivers' vine)
**morning glory-(ipomoea),
**Cats-claw-( unguis-cati),
**Honeysuckle- (Lonicera)
varieties like
> Major Wheeler coral honeysuckle-
LONICERA SEMPERVIRENS
>LONICERA X HECKROTTII 'AMERICAN BEAUTY'
>LONICERA PERICLYMENUM 'STRAWBERRIES AND CREAM'
>LONICERA X BROWNII 'DROPMORE SCARLET'
>LONICERA PERICLYMENUM 'BELGICA'
>Lonicera x heckrottii 'Goldflame'
These breath taking cultivators will bring brilliant contrasting colors into your garden. Unlink the white, yellow, creams that are the most known and available varieties.
and lets not forgot
**campsis radicans.
Now remember to take into consideration these vines need ample space to sprawl. Some are more aggressive than other's and can take over, so plan accordingly.
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Aloes, succulents, make a great addition if you can grow them. Kniphofia (aka red hot poker), cigar plant, fuschia, firecracker
petunia, 
Baja fairy duster,
Zinnia
Cosmo
Lantana
Canna
and so many more. Too many to list in full. Come with me, down the rabbit hole. What plant's are you growing in your garden to appease your demanding little critters??
Observing a hummer on a collection spree is one of the neatest things you will see. They have perfected the art of twirling, and it almost appears as a dance. They spin so fast unless you slow down the action you can't see it.
First, let's cover some things you should be aware of.
Do not's while observing.....
Do not approach an active nest from closer than 15ft. If you do, there's a good chance you startle momma, and she will abandoned her nest.
Don't observe often in the open, why would this matter you ask? You can give away her location to predators. Trust me, watching a momma hummingbird trying to ward off a hunter and losing is very hard to see.
Now, back to the good stuff.
Did you know hummingbirds collect and use spider web silk to construct nests? They use this silk because it is flexible. Hummingbird babies grow rapidly. From hatching to fledgling is roughly 14-21 days.
Their tiny little nests are roughly walnut to golf ball in size. Decorated with bits of leaf, paint flakes, wood or any piece of nature they can aquire. They usually lay 1 to 2 jelly bean size eggs. Note, the nest in the picture was a nest found during winter, abandoned, the remaining egg was a dud.
I started growing cotton to appease my little friends. The season isn't even over, and the single plant is almost stripped. More plants this year is a must.
What other item's can you offer to your little friends for nesting? Lichens, mosses, dried plant bits, milkweed fuzz, cat tail snow, dandelion puffs, or grow your own cotton. (But non that has been processed please. Raw, home grown is the only way to make sure no pesticides are used. And processed has been bleached and spooled to remain longer strands. This can tangle on the hummingbirds feet.) Large spider webs should be taken down. Garden spiders, and large orb weavers can trap and entangle a little hummer quite easily. Smaller webs leave when ever possible. Like sac or wall spider varieties.
Here are some photos of a hummer on a thieving mission. Stealing bits from another un occupied nest.
Here are many photos of cotton collection
Make sure if you are in a high humidity area, or have 80°+ temperatures, you need to be changing your hummingbirds nectar daily. You will have more visitors the more often it is refreshed.
Let's see some of your hummy photos.
Have any stories you would like to share?
Soon a what's growing/blooming is to follow. Stay tuned!!!!
As my collection (hoarding) mounts, my tiny little friend's multiply in numbers. (Appatently I must be more careful with the hose after midnight.) What started as a single momma hummingbird with her babies, has morphed into houndreds of feathery flying projectiles.
They go scurrying around, chitting and chatting, chasing and fluttering, calling, and singing away. With 30 feeding station's you would think there is enough nectar to go around. Apparently they believe differently.
Hummingbirds are very territorial
little buggers. One bird will guard multiple feeders, protecting the source at all costs. With hearing
and eye sight like a radar, if there is even a hint of an approaching intruder, the chase is on. With their heads darting to and fro, their wings fluttering, tail feathers fan, and swish, they communicate with one another; "this yard is mine, and I intend to keep it that way!"
Here is one little man, sitting amongst his perch. Surveying the landscape. Eyes to the sky, like a hawk. Ears to the wind, and ready to pounce.
Hummingbird antics is somewhere
Between the three stooges, and Preditor; Comical and deadly. A wildlife daytime soap with a new twist daily.
Some days they include me in their fun. I become a shield of protection as they dart back and fourth, around and around. Have you ever watched an incoming , dive-boming hummingbird flying straight toward you? Narrowly avoiding collison with your head by mere inches? Close enough to you that your hair moves from the wind off their wings. I'm dreading the day avoidance fails, and I end up being a dartboard.
It was only a short time ago I got an itch for plants. This itch quickly escalated into a full blown rash and sent me barreling head first down the rabbit hole of botanical collection.
How it all started? Hummingbirds......
In the hot desert landscape of Lucifer's garden (Arizona), I noticed the first hummingbird nest in my Southern Arizona oak. The following year I happened across the second nest. This one was closer to the ground which left the babies visible with a simple glance. As I watched daily from a distance, the need to help this little creature snowballed, and the obsession began.
First it was setting out a bowl of water, making sure in the mounting heat as spring sped into summer, the little momma hummer would never be without. Day after day of researching needs led to the addition of my first hummingbird feeder and the bond was made.
Now, after hours and hours of paparazzi shoots, a lot of time and effort into nectar changes (365- 7 days a week), gallons and gallons of nectar, 2 long years, and 30 feeding stations, I've realized this cannot obtain forever. My obsession with pleasing these demanding little critters has crossed kingdoms leaving me scrambling to collect every botanical seed imaginable to please them.
I am now a seed hoarder/trader contacting everyone possible for my next fix. Including stopping at the roadside to collect, driving my husband and children mad.
There will be many more photos of plants and critters to follow......stay tuned on my crazy tunneling way through the mad house.
