Flowers That Attract Hummingbirds.
 (Read 50+ times)
By Glory Lennon
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The Hummingbird is the wonder of the avian world possibly because they tease us with only fleeting glimpses of them as they zoom around going about their daily business of survival. They are wonderful to watch when they allow us this privilege and we are grateful for it. They completely and utterly fascinate us.
It is our fascination of them which prompt us to do extraordinary things to attract them. For example, those who love the Hummingbird will put out dozens of those sugar-water feeders. Some even go so far as needlessly adding red food color to reel them in. As long as the feeder itself has a flash of red the Hummers will come. In reality, however, Hummingbirds much prefer to get their sugar fix with flowers, natures own sugar feeders.
Not only are brightly colored flowers what really draws in Hummingbirds to the yard but they make the perfect feeders, filled with yummy nectar and often times with the added benefit of a tiny, itsy, bitsy spider or insect which Hummers like too. As a bonus the nectar within flowers doesn’t go bad as often happens within the feeders. Every true Hummingbird enthusiast knows feeders should be scrupulously cleaned a few times a week during warm weather to ensure they are not harming the Hummingbird. That can be a bit troublesome.
Knowing this it makes more sense and gives the bird watcher a lot less bother if they just planted a garden with the Hummingbird in mind. But which flowers attract the Hummingbird? Let’s take a look at a few.
Contrary to popular belief Hummingbirds don’t only go to red colored flowers to feed. That is the color more easily seen and will bring them in but it doesn’t mean every flower that happens to be red will be their favorite to sip from. Every color of the rainbow will do just as long as they have the sweet stuff. Their favorites are deep-throated blossoms where they can stick their long beaks within and further stick their tiny tongues out to lick at the nectar at the whooping rate of 13 licks per second.
Hummingbirds love the sweetly scented flowering vine Honeysuckle (Lonicera), Trumpet Vine (also called Hummingbird Vine for obvious reasons), Petunia, Larkspur, Hibiscus, Bleeding Hearts, Snap Dragons, Four O’clocks (Mirabilis Jalapa), Cardinal Flower ( Lobelia) and the blossoms of Cactuses. Other favorites are not the typical deep-throated type. These include Zinnia, Purple Coneflower (Echinacea Purpurea), Rose-of-Sharon, Sunflowers and the nectar rich Liatris, commonly called Gayfeather.
Needless to say, to bring in the Hummingbirds and keep them coming a good variety of flowers is all you need. So, go on down to the garden center and pick up seed packets for profusely flowering annuals, grab a few long blooming perennials and a Honeysuckle or Trumpet vine and you can put those sugar feeders back in the garage or better yet sell them at your next yard sale. With enough flowers you won’t need them and the Hummers will thank you by sticking around a bit more.
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Author Bio Box: Glory Lennon
 for more interesting garden facts, for a tiny peek at an unfinished novel or for a cute short story visit me at: http://www.helium.com/user/32782
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