TnGrandma

This year I have a hummingbird feeder and am getting more finches than hummingbirds! Next year I'd like to plant flowers both in pots and in the garden so want to know what works for you.

Thanks!

rjaywallace Loc: Wisconsin

Flowers that don’t know the words? Humming...

kcimato

I plant all varieties of salvia and lantana. The hummers love it. Anything with a tubular flowers works also.

fetzler Loc: North West PA

Check the following web site.

https://www.hummingbirdsociety.org/hummingbird-flowers/

Gene51 Loc: Yonkers, NY, now in LSD (LowerSlowerDelaware)

Lobelia (Cardinal Flower) and Impatiens Capensis (Jewelweed/Spotted Touch-Me-Not) are popular among hummingbirds as well.

aphelps Loc: Central Ohio

We have had very good success with scarlet climbing beans. They need a trellis of some sort to climb. The produce a very bright, small orange flower that the hummers love. I have not seen any other birds attracted but the bees also like the pollen and nectar. The beens should be planted early. The love sunshine. A trellis oe arbor gets the flowers up in the air which the hummers like.

rehess Loc: South Bend, Indiana, USA

Yeah, our hummingbird feeder attracted some orioles this year, but we haven't seen a hummer.

hpucker99 Loc: Anchorage, Alaska

How about hummingbird feeders with sugared water?

Bill_de Loc: US

Isn't that what the OP isn't having a lot of success with? That's what the opening sentence seemed to say to me. I could be wrong.

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Sunnely Loc: Wisconsin

We planted Hosta "Remember Me" flower gift by a friend about 3-4 years ago and has worked with hummingbirds. The plant grows back every summer and the hummingbirds visit them every year. Surprised because the flowers are not colorful. Don't know what attracts them.

We also have hummingbird feeders with sugared water and hummingbirds love them, too.

The following are photos of the Hosta plant and the feeder from a couple summers ago.

Also, a link to the slideshow of the hummingbirds taken from our backyard about same time.

Link to the slideshow: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1M7Zeba-STo
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robertjerl Loc: Corona, California

Give the feeders a bit of time, if they have other food sources it may take a while. Here in So Cal our fairly heavy rainy season caused a "Super Bloom" of native wild flowers and not only the hummers but other birds and butterflies were scarce until the flowers started to die off and then a heat wave killed off most of the rest. Then they started coming back.

In the meantime work on a yard made to attract them (butterflies will be a bonus, esp if you include some milkweed for the Monarchs). Include water, a softly bubbling fountain (solar pump) or spray will add to the attraction. make sure at least one is shallow enough for hummers. They cannot walk or hop with those tiny little feet and legs, they have to take off and land to re position. If the water is too deep they avoid it-they don't want to drown. I have seen pictures of bird baths with a wide shallow area around the fountain head with hummers sitting in the shallow water and other birds in the deeper water off to the sides. I have also seen pictures of them sitting on rocks/perches under the spray or waterfall of a multi level water fountain enjoying the shower. I see them flying through the spray of my lawn sprinklers and during the rainy season they would perch on wires near the feeder stand, the perches on the feeder etc and just sit in the rain for a while. Something to attract small insects like gnats and fruit flies helps - one expert said "They are nectar fueled insect eating machines." But they need small insects - a banana peel or piece of over ripe fruit will make a gnat/fruit fly lure. At one park with a stream and ponds I have seen the perch in trees then dive down and zig zag around grabbing insects during a hatch. Hummer above, fish below the hatch attracted both.

Audubon Society plans for a humming bird friendly yard:
https://www.audubon.org/designing-hummingbird-garden-15-ways-keep-them-coming

Plants that will attract them: (esp if you pick the right colored varieties of each type - hummers are attracted to the colors: red, orange, pink and purple - in general red trumpet shaped flowers are their favorite)

https://www.hummingbirdsociety.org/index.php

https://www.almanac.com/content/plants-attract-hummingbirds

https://birdwatchinghq.com/hummingbird-flowers/

https://www.hummingbird-guide.com/morning-glory-for-hummingbirds.html

rehess Loc: South Bend, Indiana, USA

As a child, I always thought milkweed is a weed ..... like dandelions.

Blenheim Orange Loc: Michigan

Impatiens capensis (Jewelweed or Spotted touch-me-not) mentioned by Gene, is a really good choice. I have been watching the hummers visiting those all day here, and they have quite a few choices to pick from nearby. Those are native to most of North America (there is some evidence that non-native plants can have negative effects on birds.) Jewelweed just started blooming here (northern Michigan) and will be going for at least 6 weeks. It is an annual and thrives best in moist conditions. Seeds are easy to collect and germinate easily.

The hummingbirds are also going to Teucrium canadense (American germander, or Wood sage) today. That is also a native, and easy to grow. It has very aromatic blossoms.

Back a couple of weeks ago they were going to the Michigan lilies. Turk's cap lilies are the similar plant native to your area. (I am assuming you are in Tennessee). Those are showy plants, but a little harder to grow. Monarda fistulosa (Bergamot) has been popular with the hummers for the last 3 weeks. Earlier in the season Penstemon digitalis was popular with them. Both of those are perennials that will do well in drier and sunnier conditions, and are easy to get started. Mimulus sp (monkey flower) are favorites, too.

Campsis radicans (Trumpet creeper) and Lonicera sempervirens (Trumpet honeysuckle) are really good choices. Those plants are native south from us, so we are not using them, but we are growing a species native to this area - Lonicera dioica (Red honeysuckle.)

The Lobelias are good - Cardinal Flower, Lobelia cardinalis, Great blue lobelia, Lobelia syphilitica. Great blue lobelia is easier to maintain and spreads a lot. These are late bloomers.

Aquilegia canadense (Red columbine) is good and germinates readily from seed.

Here is a good list of suggestions:

https://www.welcomewildlife.com/hummingbird-plants/

Here is the University of Tennessee guide to native plants:

https://ag.tennessee.edu/tnyards/Pages/The-Benefits-of-Native-Plants.aspx

Tennessee Native Plant Society:

https://www.tnps.org/

Here are some native plant nurseries:

Overhill Gardens in eastern Tennessee.

Nashville Natives

Tennessee Naturescapes

Exercise caution with native plants from big box stores, or nurseries that don't specialize in native plants. It is becoming a more and more common practice to treat plants in the nursery trade with systemic poisons that are taken up into the plant tissues and can be found in the nectar and pollen. This has potentially catastrophic effects on the wildlife you are trying to support.

Insects, spiders and tree sap are also important, and insects are absolutely required for successful breeding.

I hope that helps. Good luck!

Mike

cascoly Loc: seattle

definitely - I plant these every year, as they're tasty & prolific (the beans - hummers are too crunchy)- the hummers are a bonus as the beans are self-pollinating

also, you can continue to plant thru the summer - I often get my best harvests here in seattle in sep/oct (and our hummers winter over)

robertjerl Loc: Corona, California

And both have been raised deliberately, in the 19th century people had whole lawns or farm fields of dandelions for salads and making wine, yes dandelion wine is real and the greens are edible.

Just because a plant has "weed" in the common name doesn't mean it is always a weed under all circumstances.

A rose bush in the middle of a wheat field could be considered a weed. Weed - a plant growing where you don't want it in competition with cultivated plants - farm field - yard etc The rose bush in your wheat field is a weed and a stalk of corn in your lawn or flower bed is a weed. Unless you planted it for a reason, like food to attract certain wildlife to your yard. I have sunflowers, nyger and millet in my back yard flower beds for the birds. I got the seeds cheap - just used some out of the bags of bird seed I fill my feeders with. $6 for 20 lbs of bird seed at Costco and take a few out vs 75 cents to a couple of $1s from the seed rack at home depot or off line. Years ago I was visiting an Uncle in Modesto CA and his neighbor was also from KY just like our family. He had tobacco plants growing in a flower bed just to show the city slickers what the stuff was. Some of them thought tobacco grew on trees.