Here in the DFW area I usually see my first one about Mid April. Numbers increase in May, then July and Aug are our peak times. Usually Labor Day Weekend is the last of the hummer wars. After that I'll see one or two every few days. By the end of Oct I'm not seeing any at all. Thanksgiving I take the feeders down and throw the poppy seeds out. I tend to see mostly black chin, sometimes its a ruby. Neither of these will share a feeder for me. The only time I've seen hummers sharing is down in the Hill Country. If you get some of those hummers maybe they'll share at your place? I've had lots of visits today to both the feeders and my native coral honeysuckle. Don't have anything else blooming that they like. There are tons of bugs for them though. By July I'll have a yard full of both bugs and blooms. Good luck building your hummer haven **** and **** getting them to claim it their own.

That large of a containter once it is planted and watered thoroughly is going to weight a ton! I sure hope you have strong enough supports on your patio to hold it or it may just bring whatever is holding it up down to the ground. Now that said here are a couple of suggestions: trailing asarina, trailing nasturtiums and maybe wild morning glory will trail although it prefers to climb. If it was me, I would put that large container on the ground with a trellis and put climbers like cypress vine, cardinal climber, and the native morning glory. You should also consider coral honeysuckle vine which is a perennial native. Penny

This year (2016) these were some of the Hummer's favorite plants. Most I either grow from seeds, buy from Online website called "Flower's by the Sea" at www.fbts.com ) great place to buy plants but you have to place order by Feb. as they sell out fast. Plants are we well rooted, some blooming already. Never had any problems with disease or pests. Great customer service & staff. I will buy locally if I can find the plants I am looking for & trying to buy local native plants as some plants do not do well with the heat & humidity here in Tx.. I live now in Denton, Tx -zone 8. When I live in Lincolnton, N.C. we had a Hummingbird haven with a larger yard & sunny growing areas. The sun & drought in N.C. was not as harsh as it is in Tx.- In Tx we have the Ruby-Throated & the Black-Chinned Hummer's & they have different taste. They also prefer the plants over the feeder's & are very nervous birds. In N.C. we only had the Ruby-Throated ones; they love the feeder's, our plants & were more tame. We had 20-30 birds B4 migration in N.C. year- 2006 B4 we left. Here in Tx we started with 1-2 birds in Spring 2013 & now this yr.(2016) counting the juvenile's of both types & adults we had about 8-10 birds, We also had waves of different birds 3 times b4 all left as of Oct. 19th. TEXAS PLANTS- I grow from seeds each yr are Cypress Vines & Mexican Sunflowers. Our Cypress Vines we trained to grow this year up a metal stake & bamboo up the mature trees in the backyard & they reached a height of 20-30 ft. & laid like a blanket among the trees giving the hummer's a drapery of vines to spend a lot of time going to each flower. The birds also loved the Zinnia- single flower tall plants but I ran out of room (this yr. 2016). Our Salvia favorites were- Salvia guarantica 'Black & Blue', Suncrest Bright Eyes (Autumn Sage) Spring & Fall flowering due to our heat, Amistad, Lipstick(Salvia greggi) was just added this yr., , Salvia greggii 'Cherry Chief'- big hit this Spring thru Fall, Hot Lips Salvia is a great early Spring plant but stops blooming during the heat of our summer's reblooms in the fall when it cools off, 'Lady in Red' tolerates our heat if watered & could be grown in window boxes as it is a shorter plant, Love & Wishes & Ember's Wish I usually grow as annual's but did come back this yr. because of our mild winter (2015),. Heatwave Blaze Salvia was added this yr. but was only visited by juvenile's & late traveling birds (not our regular adults), Purple Dwarf (Salvia Leucantha) is great for Fall, Pineapple Sage(Salvia elegans) is good for fall blooming., Danielle's Dream(Salvia leucantha) was just tried this yr. suppose to bloom in the summer-fall but mine did not start until fall. NONE SALVIA PLANTS--- were Cuphea x 'David Verity' also called (Cigar plant), Anisacanthus quadrifidus v. wrightii / Hummingbird Bush or Texas Firecracker Bush, Compact Hamelian patens also called ( 'Compact Fire Bush') may be just an annual where I live as growing zone is 8-9 (nectar did not come in until fall but was covered with blooms all Spring-Frost. If we have snow or ice this winter it may not come back & I also here it is very slow to start putting our leaves as it will die back to the ground, so do not dig up too early thinking it is dead unless never comes back, Kniphofia both the Mango Popsicle & Redhot Popsicle also known as 'Poker plants' are perennial plants, Turks' Cap (red or pink colored blooms), 'Major Wheeler Honeysuckle Vine, Red Lantana(Shrub Verbena), Trumpet Vine's (non-invasive type's) also called Campsis Radicans grow both well in N.C. & Tx. 'Indian Summer' is a non-invasive type & can be bought On-line. Weeping Bottlebush grows well in Tx & does not have the thorns. The other tall varieties do well & draw the hummer's but have thorns. Red Columbine is a Native Spring plant for Tx, our white flowered Abelia Shrub that I was going to have my husband remove was a huge hit this year (2016) with the juvenile's that were trying every plant for the 1st time & they seem to go to it everyday for about 5 days b4 they left. We had never seen anything go to it b4. PLANTS IN N.C.- We had Blueberry Bushes & Prairifire Crabapple Tree which helped attract the birds in early Spring as that is when the tree/shrubs flowered, we also grew Hosta plants with the purple flowers & these were the old fashioned type. I cannot grow the hosta plants here in Tx. The Phlox grew in N.C. (but does not do well in Tx), Fushia plants were grown in hanging baskets, Buddleia davidii 'Black Knight' did well in N.C. but has died twice in Tx even in a large pot where I can control amount of water, light & soil but was a popular plant in N.C. by the butterflies & hummer's. Lochroma plants as annuals in large pots, Red Bee Balm (but buy mildew resistant ones), Salvia coccinea 'Coral Nymph' was popular in N.C. but not in Tx. Foxgloves did well in a part-shade/part-sun in the garden in N.C. for Spring flower's but I have not tried growing them yet in Tx. Old-Fashion Camelia evergreen plants attract hummingbirds & grew well in N.C. We also had mature red & hot pink azalea shrubs , many trees for perching, shade, lichen & nest areas & a lot more of wide-open areas for flying. In Tx we do have plenty of small bugs which the hummers do eat esp. when 1st arriving in Spring to get into mating condition & again in the fall to gain weight. We do not spray our yard for insects because of the poisons that I do not want the birds to ingest. So our gardening in the different states is greatly different. We do not have the room for succlents & cactus but may if we move to the County farther out from the city.

Since Ian Barclay occasionally reads/posts to this forum and runs a nursery in WA that specializes in water-wise gardening in the PNW, I think that his perspective is important. He sells Ribes speciosum (http://desertnorthwest.com/catalog/plants_western.html), and here is his take: "Hardy to about 10 F" "It is one of the few drought-deciduous shrubs we can grow in the Northwest." "Although native to central California, IT DOES FINE IN MILDER NORTHWEST GARDENS, occasional leaf drop notwithstanding." (my emphasis) If you have a problem with me SUGGESTING Ribes speciosum for a relatively mild climate like Portland, I can't image what you think of Ian for SELLING the plant to PNW customers. Be sure to express your displeasure the next time that he posts here.