Supporting Hummingbirds

Hummingbirds are back in North Georgia, and I’ve got a regular visitor or two at the feeder (is it just me or do all those females look alike?). The feeder is just a part of my support strategy; it’s a little something to make up for all the plants that have been paved over by humans. Plants are the most important part of my support because there’s research out there that hummingbirds get more of what they need from plant nectar.

Crossvine (Bignonia capreolata) on a roadside chainlink fence

Hummingbirds come back to Georgia from their winter homes in Central America. Long before humans came along with sugar water feeders, the birds relied on the blooms of native plants. Therefore, it should come as no surprise that the plants open up about the time that the birds are returning. The first of my hummingbird plants to bloom is coral honeysuckle (Lonicera sempervirens). It is native throughout Georgia and the southeastern US, perfectly in the path of returning migrants.

On coral honeysuckle (Lonicera sempervirens)

Red buckeye (Aesculus pavia) 

Next to bloom is red buckeye (Aesculus pavia), a large part-shade shrub that is found in central Florida, south Georgia and up into the Piedmont. In the Piedmont, Georgia buckeye (A. sylvatica), also called painted buckeye, takes over, ensuring that the hummers have a statewide support of buckeye nectar.

Another family of early blooming shrubs includes the native azaleas (Rhododendron). Large, tubular flowers open in early April at my house on the Piedmont azalea (Rhododendron canescens). Several other species follow, finishing up in July/August with plumleaf azalea (R. prunifolium).

By the end of April, the large blooms of crossvine (Bignonia capreolata) are opening. Whether it is high up in the trees (like at my house) or on a fence or arbor, the hummingbirds know how to find them. The coral honeysuckle is still blooming at this point, so vines can be real winners. In the perennial garden, Eastern red columbine (Aquilegia canadensis) is blooming.

Speaking of high up, the tulip-like flowers of tuliptree (Liriodendron tulipifera) open in May. I usually only notice them once the spent blooms hit the ground. These trees can be very common around here, but they support a lot of wildlife!

Salvias and penstemons are my next wave of blooms, long enough to finish out the spring. Lyre-leaf sage (Salvia lyrata) is a perennial salvia blooming now. Scarlet sage (Salvia coccinea) is an annual that starts later; it needs warm soil temps for the seeds to germinate. This is a good time to mention that hummingbirds don’t need red/pink flowers; they need flowers that have the right shape for them to access the nectar (usually a tubular flower). I have two penstemons, the purple Penstemon smallii blooms first, followed by the white Penstemon digitalis.

Scarlet beebalm (Monarda didyma)

Also spanning the spring to summer threshold is wild bergamot (Monarda fistulosa). It will be joined in summer by two other species: scarlet beebalm (Monarda didyma) and spotted beebalm (Monarda punctata). The butterflies and bees love these too, and it makes me happy to have one plant support so many critters.

The heat of summer is a thirsty time, and I keep an eye on the liquid level in the nectar feeder. Between the ants, the heat, and the thirst of the birds, I find it needs to be changed/refilled about every 3 ½ days. In the garden, cardinal flower (Lobelia cardinalis) is my strongest summer flower for hummingbirds. I also have skullcap (Scutellaria sp.) and tall thistle (Cirsium altissimum), and I have seen hummingbirds visit both of them.

Last year I had great luck attracting butterflies with summer phlox (Phlox paniculata), especially the long-blooming cultivar ‘Jeana.’ I hope the hummingbirds got a chance to enjoy the flowers too.

Malvaviscus arboreus

Hummingbird on thistle (Cirsium altissimum)

Summer is also the time that my turk’s cap hibiscus (Malvaviscus arboreus) sneaks past the hungry deer and gets a chance to bloom. And somewhere, high up in the trees, a trumpet vine (Campsis radicans) blooms because I find the spent flowers on the ground.

If I had a shady wet spot, I’d try to cultivate the annual jewelweed (Impatiens capensis). I do grow turtlehead (Chelone glabra) in a few damp patches but I have not seen the hummingbirds visit those flowers (but the bumblebees love it). There are some sources that say they like it.

If you do have a liquid nectar feeder: be sure to keep it clean, cleaning it more often in warm weather; don’t use dyes to color the water, the color of the feeder will attract them; and use only refined white sugar when you make the nectar (it is the sweetener which is most like plant nectar of all the sweetener choices).