Congratulations!! Good for you!! Isn't it exciting when you see/hear them zipping past as you yank weeds or water your flowers? I bought the nectar concentrate & set up a feeder near my butterfly bed but never did see any of them on it. I'm very happy you're getting the chance to watch them.

I think the best way to attract them is to plant the flowers that they love- salvia, agastache, lobelia, impatiens, petunias, etc.

Karen

Mine come back every year and if I don't have their feeder(s) ready for them they cuss me out!

I didn't put up any hanging baskets the past 2 years, but still they hover over the spot where the baskets usually hang. I've read that they live for about 10 years, so their usual feeding stops must imprint on them.

Most of my neighbors have feeders up too so the hummers have more places to go to now, but that one male Nectar Nazi still hangs out in the Norway Spruce in front of my house and tries to run off any other bird that comes by for a sip.

I usually keep a fresh feeder up until the end of October for any that may be passing through on their journey back South.

Mary

I agree about planting the flowers they like. It's much less work (no worries about cleaning out the feeder every other day, ants, etc) and you get to look at the flowers AND the hummers.

Yes, I think the flowers are best too. I'll be planning all winter for which ones to plant. My problem is that I need to find the ones that rabbits don't eat.

In my yard they are enjoying the tall phlox which also is a favorite of the hummingbird moths and some rather large bees who look hilarious as they back up out of each blossom. The self-seeded morning glory President Tyler is another favorite.

Lois, I use an ant moat to keep the ants out of the feeders. DH drilled a hole in a larger size RX container, slid it over the hanging wire, and sealed it with epoxy...works like a charm.

Due to my WSing this year, I have so many butterfly/hummer friendly flowers that I haven't put up a feeder either. They love the salvia, bee balm, cardinal flower and canna especially. But I also see them on lots of other flowers. I've never had so many butterflies as this year either, due to all the new plants.

A monarch landed on my BB this afternoon. I walked past and didn't see him/her until he/she flew up and around my head. I really love having them come to feed on the plants I've provided for them. Now that the "big" flowerbed is cut in half, I'm going to WS more BB to plant in it and make it as butterfly/hummingbird-friendly as I can.

Sure is too bad the bunnies like a LOT of the same flowers as the butterflies! The red foxes kept the bunnies under control (ick!) earlier in the season but they've moved on and the bun-buns are back. I looked out the other morning to see a little one munching on my wandflower that I paid good money for. With the drought, I can't find it in me to scare them away even if they chomp it down to the roots. I keep the birdbath clean & filled with fresh water but I also keep a bowl of fresh water on the ground beside it for the little critters.

Gardenweed, you're a much kinder person than I. We had a nest and a whole family of rabbits in our yard most of the summer. I wasn't a happy camper re: that.

Karen

Hummingbirds are such beautiful, amazing creatures, it's a treat to attract them in whatever way you can, flowers or feeders.

It just makes my day to come around the corner of the house and see a hummingbird sipping from the coral honeysuckle flowers. This summer, I was honored to host a handsome lad, bejeweled in red and green. Or course, he would zoom away the minute I got out my camera!

I love watching bumblebees. They disappear inside a foxglove flower and then have to back out, loaded with pollen. They are also determined. If they can't get to the nectar in a flower, for example, some kinds of salvia, they will drill a hole in the base of the flower. They did that to the salvia greggii in my parents' garden.

We have bunnies, too. DH wouldn't let me take any measures against the bunnies even if I wanted to.

After our new garage gets put up, I'll have a new garden space 40'x10' of full sun where I can plant a hummingbird/butterfly haven. A couple feet of that along the front may get a pathway to separate the bed from the neighbors yard, but I'm excited about it, I'll get to plant all sorts of stuff, and will be buying lots of seeds this year. It'll probably take a few years for it to fill out and mature, but that's the fun part, growing and buying new stuff to add to the new bed. But right now I have to worry for the next week or two about getting my already established plants moved before they get bulldozed with the old garage! Some plants that I'm not thrilled with can get creamed, but others must be saved!

Karen

The first hummingbird I saw 'danced' in front of me a few days ago. It was really headed for the Snowberry bush at which it stopped for a short time. I put up feeders for several years and never got any hummingbirds. They really came when I grew cannas and Yvonne's Salvia. That has just started blooming so they should be around soon. My buddleia is amazing this year (thanks to Tiffy) because I pinched it. Last Saturday it was loaded with first painted ladies, then swallow tails, then monarchs. It was amazing standing next to the plants while the butterflies flew around my head. I was lucky to get pics. of each of them which I will post later. My asclepias died this summer - was quite sort of wilted all summer long and put out a few paltry blooms, but I have cut it all off and will re-plant next year. I had only one solitary monarch around this summer before they found the Buddleia. Thankfully asclepias will bloom the first year.
Don't talk about animals: I have a resident skunk, a ground hog (loves my parsley), and a snake so I have spent most of my summer building enclosures for everything, and bagging fruit (squash and melons). They get the low-growing peppers and tomatoes and eat my best apples. What a summer!!!

There's a Cooper's hawk family in the trees behind my next-door neighbor's yard and between those & the foxes they keep the bunny population under control. If it weren't for the natural predators I'm sure my little green acre would be overrun with rabbits. We have woodchucks every year too but set a trap & relocate them to the state forest a couple miles away. That's a cooperative effort by ALL the neighbors to protect our flower/vegetable gardens.

My hummers seem to favor the tithonias. Tithonias will definitely be on next year's list!

Deanna

Like Mary, my hummers come back every year,and raise cane if the feeder is not out.We have ours on the front porch, they are very tame,and fly in front of us when they come back, as if to say Hello, or, to see if we are who we should be,we have been gone for a month, and when we sat on the porch yesterday, sure enough, they flew in front of both myself, and Wayne,just to say welcome home.
cAROL

I kept a feeder filled & hanging in the crabapple tree last year but never saw a single hummer feeding. This year I didn't even bother putting the feeder out. I've got butterfly- & hummingbird-friendly flowerbeds all around the property but other than a passing hummer or two they don't seem to like 197 Florida Road. Could I have a negative aura going on? I keep the birdbath under the crabapple tree clean & filled right through the year so it's a mystery to me what I'm doing wrong or else not doing right enough to have them coming in to the feeder & flowers.

I did rescue one last year--it flew into the back tire of my truck and knocked itself out. I set it under a hosta & put a tiny cup of water close to its beak. Twenty minutes later it was gone.

Awwwww, gardenweed, don't feel bad. Your flowers are gorgeous, so why they don't stay really is a mystery. Maybe it takes a few years to get them coming back regularly with their relatives?

I was so excited...I got the best photo the other day. A hummer sitting in my canna leaf in my butterfly garden waiting for the sprinkler to return for his shower. He would flap his wings each time the sprinkler came back! I've got 18 people coming for dinner tomorrow night, once that's over I'll post the picture.

I'm so bummed! I haven't seen a hummer in 5 days now. I don't know whether they went south for the winter or what. I hope nothing bad happened to them...

They have been migrating for some time now. I still see a couple of them daily. I will leave only one feeder up now. The link will give you a ton of information, I hope you will enjoy it. Also, see their home page.

Mary

Here is a link that might be useful: migrations

We usually only get them until mid-August but are still seeing the odd one coming through. They are not staying, simply feeding and off they go. We have been reporting all of our sightings this year which has made things interesting. :O)

I discovered this year that the Hummingbirds LOVE Buddleias (Butterfly Bush)!!!!! One Buddleia I had planted at my parents home became my breakfast place every morning while on vacation this summer. This shrub grows to 10 feet in the middle of a perennial bed and I set out the patio table and a couple of chairs close to it. My mother joined me one morning and told me to "keep it quiet"- ie She loved to do the same thing without interruption from anyone. We counted over 20 Red Admirals, 3 Monarchs, 4 White Admirals, 12 American Painted Ladies, and 5 Hummingbirds on that bush at one point in time. At one point she turned to me and said, "That bush is the best gift you ever gave me. Thank-You."

Ahhhhhhhhhhhh,Tiffy, I love this story.
cAROL

I must admit that our breakfast place did get quite busy later on in the day. This Buddleia was winter sown the winter before last and my mother is not one to feed her plants. Here it is while we are releasing Monarchs. That's me on the right, my sister in the middle, and my goddaughter/niece on the left.

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Here's my sister's reaction when she spotted a Red Admiral on my shirt. :O)

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You are so darn cute, you look just like I thought you would,ha ha
Your sisters facial expression is so funny,looks like you were all having a good time.When we were in Oregon, I saw
Buddleia plants that big, and I could not believe it,WOW, yours is amazing,I mean your mom's.
Sure wish mine looked like that.
Thanks for sharing your pictures with us.
cAROL

ditto!!! :)

Awesome shots Nicole!!! :)

Tiffy, that's the tallest butterfly bush I've ever seen!

Would it be because the good soil is nice and deep? I saw some very tall joe pye weed in a garden that used to be a farm and the owner said that the loam went way down.

glad2garden,

You are probably right! A few years ago Maman put some mulch in this area and never did anything with it. The soil underneath was great to begin with so I asked if I could start a butterfly garden in 2008. The Buddleia is the first thing I put in and then I put Echinaceas, Asclepias, Heliopsis, and Sedums. The Sedums were the only things not winter sown.

In 2009 we realized how big this Buddleia was going to be. It is so full and so sturdy.

Funny you should mention the Joe Pye - I have a spot with such soil in front of our house and a winter sown Joe grows to 9 feet every year if not taller. :O)

If you have trouble attracting hummers and butterflies, think about what might be discouraging them. i.e. hummers are primarily carnivores so they're looking for bugs too, not just nectar. Avoid pesticides. Watch for things like praying mantis on your feeders and plants.

Last week there was a yellow jacket hanging around my feeder chasing the hummers.

Karen

Oh, I don't understand why my neighbors are still using pesticides. After all the bad press about them and the damage they do. But I still see those little yellow signs in their grass that say "keep off...pesticides applied". Incredible. I feel bad when I see a poor hapless robin foraging on the lawn. He can't read.

Tiffy, that is one beautiful bush! I got one on sale this year, about 18" tall. I hope it gets that tall. I had a liatris that was 7'8" tall, so maybe there is hope. LOL

I had my first EVER hummers yesterday. The first one was on the lobelia cardinalis and the other one was going for the pink turtlehead and whats left of the anise hyssop.

We used to have the owner of the exterminator company live next door. He's moved away someplace. U can't ignore the correlation.

:)