Birds of any kind are a such a treat to watch, but hummingbirds – those tiny, iridescent, whirring wonders – are extra special. And if you live in the right area, they’re not hard to attract: Just plan to include a few of their favorite plants and roll out a red carpet of flowers – literally, because red attracts hummingbirds. If you add a water source, trees, vines and flowering plants at least 2 feet high, these feathered friends will likely flock to your garden.
Red, deep-throated flowers like fuchsia are an irresistible draw to hummingbirds.
Photo Credit: ©2002 Dolezal Publishing/John M. Rickard
Hummingbirds are territorial, so install several feeders around your yard. To place them among the trees, run wire cable between two that are at least 8 feet tall. Use chafe-protecting covers on the looped, attached ends, and avoid attachments that cut or penetrate bark. Suspend the feeder from the cable.
Photo Credit: ©2002 Dolezal Publishing/John M. Rickard
To hang a plant from a tree, wrap a support cable around a sturdy limb, protecting the branch with a chafe protector where the cable contacts the bark. Then hook a brightly blooming hanging basket onto the cable.
Photo Credit: ©2002 Dolezal Publishing/John M. Rickard
A simple 4x4 wooden plant post offers lots of space for beautiful plants and bird feeders to attract all kinds of feathered friends.
Photo Credit: ©2002 Dolezal Publishing/John M. Rickard
If you don’t have many trees, consider using your home or garage to hang plants and feeders. Fasten an eyebolt to an eave rafter or joist by drilling a hole through them. Brackets also can be attached to masonry.
Photo Credit: ©2002 Dolezal Publishing/John M. Rickard
Stand-alone shade structures like pergolas and gazebos can also support colorful hanging plants that attract hummingbirds. Just be sure to evenly distribute each plant’s weight across the structure.
Photo Credit: ©2002 Dolezal Publishing/John M. Rickard
All hummingbird species are migratory to some degree, with a few flying as far as 600 miles as they follow the successive seasonal bloom of their food plants. Flowers with long, tubular forms are made for hummingbirds. The birds have specially designed bills for drinking flower nectar. Using their unusually strong wing muscles (hummingbirds beat their wings between 20-200 times per second and flex them at different angles), they hover before a flower, darting their long, needlelike bills into the flower’s nectaries. Hummingbirds extend their tongues inside each bloom and quickly drink. The birds’ extremely high metabolism rate requires them to constantly replenish their bodies with high-energy food and water throughout the day. Their favorite plants include the brightly colored cardinal flower, fuchsia, honeysuckle, morning glory, penstemon, salvia and trumpet vine.
Of course, nectar from flowering plants is a natural food choice, but hummingbirds also are attracted to feeders filled with nectar solution. Because hummingbirds are fiercely territorial, it’s a good idea to spread several feeders around your garden out of sight of one another.
There are lots of options for installing hanging planters and feeders, including suspending them from trees, existing structures or pole supports. Some of the methods shown in the pictures of this article are suitable for discouraging squirrels or other foraging wildlife from raiding feeders, which is always a good idea. Choose the option that best fits your garden and follow the instructions shown in each picture and described in its caption.
Don’t forget to place a feeder or two near a window so you can watch the birds easily. Also consider planting up a window box or dangling a basket of brightly colored flowers near a window so you can watch the birds magically float and flutter for their food. Just remember, hummingbirds are mostly drawn to pink, orange and red.
Keep water near the feeders as well. Hummingbirds need to drink as much as eight times their body weight each day. The birds also augment their diets with insects and spiders, and they’ll drink sap as it runs from trees.
So invite some magic into your garden – add a few hummingbird feeders and brightly colored tubular plants. You’ll be amazed by these wonderful birds, and you’ll find yourself looking forward to their seasonal migration almost as much as the gardening season itself!
