There are some verbena there but I will change them out for impatience since it is too shady. I do not want it too lush for the snakes to hide since the grandkids like to play in it. One day we found a big fat frog sitting in the pump getting a whirlpool bath. Grandkids dont drink out of it anymore!

I've been in my house for six years now. And I think the most important thing we do for birds is we don't use pesticides. Ever. When we first moved in, we saw the occasional mocking bird, cardinal, jay and dove. After three years of no pesticides, we had cardinals, doves, jays, mocking birds and finches all nesting in the yard and Mexican Orioles and Amazon parrots stopping by. We also saw a lot more butterflies and even some hummers. Fast forward another three years and I saw a painted bunting a couple weeks ago. We also have gold finches and several birds I haven't identified yet. And I have a very small yard. Yes, I plant natives wherever I can find room. But I think the most important thing I have done is make sure that there are bugs in my yard. A lot of these birds eat bugs. You can't plant bugs, you just have to put up with them. I caught my cardinals eating caterpillars off dying tomato plants at the end of the season a couple years ago. And I know you can attract cardinals with a good seed mix, but they also need to eat bugs. And I only realized the caterpillar feast was happening because my boy cardinal made so much noise, calling his mate, to let her know that there was a caterpillar feast to be had on the dying tomatoes. This was in April, when the tomatoes are pretty much done down here. Earlier in the season, I would have been out squishing caterpillars, or even spraying with soap. I do what I can to protect tomato plants - but my limit is chemicals. And when the plant is dying, I let it die in the yard, and feed the bugs which feed the birds. I also have one large trees that several birds nest in every year, and I have shrubs - some birds won't nest up high. They want low shrubs. And even birds who nest up high, like cardinals, need shrubs nearby for when they kick the babies out of the nest.

I came to this forum in search of this very same topic. I have not fed hummers in the past, I was really just working on getting my gardens established. Last fall I had a hummer come through my yard and I didn't even have a feeder out (I remember seeing him at one of my perennials but I don't recall which one.) Anyway, this year I've added more hummer-friendly flowers even though none are blooming right now I did set my feeder out 3 days ago just in case. My neighbor told me she had a Hummer at her feeder last week so I'm guessing I might've missed my window. I've noticed that the robins (most numerous bird in my yard) are constantly flying around the HB feeder and landing on the shepards hook that the feeder is on. The feeder is Very close to a small lilac shrub (didn't bloom this year - too new I think) and a very mature cherry tree. All the birds in my yard LOVE the cherry tree. I haven't even had to set out a bird feeder this year, I just toss stale bread out once every few weeks and they have a field day between that, the cherries and the worms/grubs/insects in my yard. I just wonder if it's too much bird activity for hummers?

Yes, it is good to have this sort of interest, but perhaps a little less squabbling would have been good--I say, a bit sheepishly. The only other Trey I ever heard of was also a guy, so I guess I shouldn't be surprised. The question remains, is BN a guy? I don't know of any non-female Kristins, and I am, indeed a gal. Isn't it nice we got all of that straightened out? I had a feeling there was more to your garden than you originally described, and from the beginning I suspected that's why you were so puzzled by the birds' behavior. At an earlier stage in the discussion I was frustrated that appropriate conversations were being missed in favor of the Trey's garden doesn't have much to offer hypothesis. I, too, am glad to see the discussion turn to analysis of behavior. A number of good thoughts have been expressed already. I figured your "other hummer plants" referred to significant additional plants, but even I was surprised by how much your garden has to offer. It also sounds like there are similarities between our gardens and where they are situated. The garden I speak of is actually at my mother's house in suburban Pittsburgh. Like yours, it's an old suburb, with lots of woods and streams nearby. Also, except for the trumpet vine, lilies, and daylilies, all of the hummer plantings are new this year--Agastache, Monarda, Aquilegia canadensis, Lobelia cardinalis, Salvia coccinea, Petunias, Verbenas (both annual and perennial), snapdragons, impatiens, and cardinal climber in a pot. Of these, only the Aquilegia, Salvia, petunias, verbenas, and Agastache are currently blooming. I wonder if Jenny's suggestion about patience may be in order for us. Perhaps simple habit is the key here, and it will take time for the hummers to get used to the fact that there are good, natural food sources in our gardens. Still, I think I may be onto something when I say that feeders are easy. Once the hummers have figured them out, they are like fast food. I hate to use that analogy, but I think it's apt. Feeders allow them to come in, feed, and get out quickly, with very little expenditure of energy. Feeders don't, however, provide the traces of extra nutrition that may be present in flower nectar. That is why it disturbed and surprised me last year when the hummers so readily switched from the trumpet vines to my feeders. It was nice having them at the feeders because it made them easier to see, but I couldn't help but worry if I were doing them a disservice, like opening a McDonald's. To combat this, I resolved to plant more flowers this year, and have done so. So far, I'm seeing the same thing as you--feeder preference over flowers. Interesting that when I took both feeders in for cleaning, and had them inside for an hour, I first saw the female at the columbine. Let me know if you decide to experiment with bringing your feeders inside. Are your feeders situated in your garden in plain view of the flowers? I couldn't quite figure that out from your description of you and your neighbors' yards. There also seems to be some difference in opinion about what we can expect from young birds and their behavior. On the one hand, with no feeder experience, you'd think they would be more likely to use natural sources. My experience, though, was that they, too, immediately abandoned the trumpet vine for feeders. I posted the picture of my feeder, because I wonder if the design is easier for them to acclimate to than some of the other types. I modelled one of them after a cardinal climber flower, and the other after a Salvia. Perhaps they're similar enough to flowers that it's simple for even young birds to catch on. Who knows. Maybe I'm a "victim" of my own feeder making skills. That said, it's awfully hard to arrive at conclusions about why these little birds do what they do. We could run years of carefully controlled scientific studies and we'd no doubt learn something, but still wouldn't be able to explain some of their behavior with certainty. I believe they are also capable of quirky, individual behaviors that are hard to analyze.