Including Plants to Grow Your Own Hummingbird Garden
Hummingbirds are jewels of the Americas. Their iridescent feathers glitter in the sunlight. They whiz past, with a buzzing (humming) sound, and then hover while probing a flower, their wings moving so fast you cannot see them.
Hummingbird Species
Hummingbirds are found only in the Americas. Many species migrate from North America to Central or South America annually. About 15 species breed in the United States and another nine visit for several months. Although Texas has the most species, the only state with no hummingbirds is Hawaii. The species in different states vary. Ruby-throated Hummingbirds range all across eastern North America and up to Alaska. Four species visit the Rocky Mountains in summer. In Texas and the Southwest more than a dozen species visit gardens. One common western hummingbird, Anna’s Hummingbird, does not migrate but can be found from Mexico to Alaska. Everywhere in the continental United States you can spot a hummingbird and delight in its antics. Also, everywhere, you can help it by growing the plants it needs.
In spring, hummingbirds migrate in the opposite direction.
Humminbird Fall Migration Map published with permission from Hummingbird Central
Hummingbird Migration
These tiny birds migrate hundreds or thousands of miles each year. Some also winter in Florida and along the Gulf of Mexico. From winter grounds, hummingbirds head north in the spring, starting about the end of February and moving steadily northward. Ruby-throated Hummingbirds turn eastward and disperse across the eastern United States, reaching the northern border by May and breeding all across the continent. Other species, Broad-Tailed Hummingbirds and Rufous Hummingbirds, for example, travel north across New Mexico and Arizona, some staying there to breed, some heading into the Rocky Mountains, others moving up the Pacific Coast into Canada. By May, hummingbirds are nesting all across the West. Anna’s Hummingbirds, which do not migrate, reside year-round farther north than any other hummingbird, as far as British Columbia, Canada, then expand northward and eastward in summer to breed.
The migration naturally reverses in fall. Many hummingbirds move southward early in early September, heading out for their winter habitat in late September, some overland through Mexico, others by flying over the Caribbean. The weather patterns of each fall and the different habitats along the way speed up and slow down migration, so migrating hummingbirds can be encountered from July to November, and all winter in the southernmost United States.


What Hummingbirds Eat
The hummingbird you spot may be resident or migrating. In both cases, this tiny bird requires a lot of energy. Hummingbirds must feed frequently. The food of adult hummingbirds is a mix of small insects and nectar (sugar water) from plants. A single female hummingbird, providing for nestlings, may eat 3,000 insects and spiders in a day. Most of her prey will be tiny insects such as aphids, fruit flies, gnats, and mosquitos. These provide vitamins and protein. Nectar from flowers provides the sugars which power flight.
Like most birds, hummingbirds feed invertebrates to their nestlings. Caterpillars and spiders are particularly good because they are soft-bodied, not full of chitinous parts like a beetle. (Imagine caterpillars and spiders as boneless chicken and beetles and grasshoppers as normal chicken, in terms of ease of eating and amount of inedible parts.) To assist hummingbirds, grow plants that are fed on by caterpillars. The easiest way to do this is to grow plants that are native to your area. Native plants have numerous insects that feed on them, unlike introduced plants that left many of their insect enemies behind when they were brought to America. Robust natives, like oaks, dogwoods, and sunflowers, readily outgrow any damage from the insects that feed on them. Spiders live where they find abundant prey, so a garden rich in insects attracts them.
Hummingbird Watching
Hummingbird nests are tiny and hard to spot. Watch for patterns in adult behavior that suggest the presence of a nest, such as returning repeatedly to the same location or appearing suddenly when you did not see it arrive. Then snoop carefully, preferably with binoculars, so as not to disturb the nest. Nests are only about two inches across, and hold one to three eggs, each about one-half inch long, the size of a kidney bean.
What Attracts Hummingbirds to Your Garden
Hummingbirds require constant energy which they get from nectar, the sugar water inside flowers.
Hummingbirds are attracted to bright-colored flowers with lots of nectar. Reds are good, but so are yellows, oranges, blues, and purples, even whites. They will visit flowers of many shapes, but long tubes holding rich nectar are particularly enticing. Thus red tubular flowers, for example cypress vine (Ipomoea quamoclit), scarlet gilia (Ipomopsis aggregata) and trumpet vine (Campsis radicans) are hummingbird magnets.
Really important for supporting hummingbirds is continuous flowering, so that every day they have adequate food. In Berkeley California years ago, I witnessed the consequences of a break in food for hummingbirds. A rare hard frost killed all the open flowers. It took several days for the plants to open new flowers and pedestrians found hummingbirds collapsed on the sidewalks, lacking the energy to fly. Radio and TV bulletins directed us to carefully carry downed hummingbirds to locations where people were reviving them with nectar and warmth.
Hummingbirds are good pollinators of many plants. They are intelligent and learn how to reach into flowers for the nectar and then go to other plants of the same species for more. That’s just what the plant wants: pollen carried between flowers of different plants of the same species, without side trips. They also learn where the food is as they migrate and if they find a good spot, will stop by annually. Individual hummingbirds can live 10 years.


How to Create a Hummingbird Garden
Common plants that hummingbirds like include penstemons, columbines, salvias, mints including monardas and agastaches, coral honeysuckle (Lonicera sempervirens), and annual flowers like zinnias, petunias, lantanas, and nasturtiums. Hummingbirds remember and revisit good food sources. They also feed from unlikely flowers—I watched one systematically visit the flowers of a green-flowered spurge, the flowers neither conspicuous nor tubular but presenting nectar. Following recommendations for highly attractive flowers, though, is more likely to bring hummingbirds to your garden than leaving it to chance.
Hummingbird feeders presenting sugar water for hummingbirds will attract hummingbirds, but growing flowers that hummingbirds like is simpler and more reliable. For example, you don’t have to remember to refill the feeder, to clean it well, or to chase off ants and wasps. On the other hand, feeders can bridge a gap in flower availability. Perennials in particular will offer nectar to hummingbirds predictably every spring. The gardener does not have to do anything. However, watching hummingbirds hover and dart across a big stand of annuals, such as red salvias, fuchsias, and flowering tobaccos (Nicotiana species), is a delight worth the effort of planting these annuals.
Hummingbirds can be spotted visiting flowers all over North America, a highlight of the summer. Growing plants that encourage their visits enhances that pleasure. And, hummingbirds have excellent taste in flowers; hummingbird gardens are spectacular. Make hummingbirds welcome, help them out, even if you can only provide a pot of petunias.
Top Plants for Hummingbird Gardens
Top Plants for Hummingbird Gardens and Why They Like Them
Oaks – While not known for their flowers, oaks support a diverse insect population, including caterpillars, which hummingbirds may feed on for protein.
Dogwoods – Their small, nectar-rich blooms and the insects they attract provide a valuable food source for hummingbirds.
Sunflowers – These bright blooms attract insects and provide a landing spot for hummingbirds searching for nectar from nearby flowers.
Cypress vine – Its tubular, red flowers are rich in nectar and perfectly shaped for hummingbird feeding.
Scarlet gilia – The bright red, trumpet-shaped blooms are a classic hummingbird favorite, offering abundant nectar.
Trumpet vine – This vigorous vine produces large, trumpet-shaped flowers filled with nectar, ideal for hummingbirds.
Penstemons – Their tubular flowers, available in vibrant colors, provide a rich nectar source that attracts hummingbirds.
Columbines – With their unique spurred flowers, columbines hold nectar deep within, perfectly suited for hummingbirds' long bills.
Salvias – These long-blooming plants produce tubular flowers high in nectar, in colors like red and purple that hummingbirds love.
Fuchsias – Their dangling, tubular blossoms provide ample nectar and a unique feeding position for hummingbirds.
Mints including monardas and agastaches – These aromatic plants produce clusters of tubular flowers rich in nectar, attracting hummingbirds throughout the season.
Coral honeysuckle (Lonicera sempervirens) – This native vine produces clusters of tubular, red blooms with abundant nectar that hummingbirds find irresistible.
Flowering tobaccos (Nicotiana species) – Their fragrant, tubular flowers open in the evening and produce nectar that hummingbirds readily sip.
Annuals like zinnias, petunias, lantanas, and nasturtiums – These bright, nectar-filled flowers provide continuous blooms throughout the growing season, keeping hummingbirds well-fed.