Great to hear from you, Penny. Your garden must be something else!! Hope your husband is doing well.

Hi Penny, We miss you! Your garden sounds amazing! Have you seen many hummers? I am seeing quite a few and I read on the Pa bird list that during migration we are like the south for every one that we see we can multiply that by five. Scott Weidensaul The hummingbird bander wrote that and he said he knows by the numbers he bands in his yard most of his neighbors don't feed them but if they do they know better not to feed them red dye and he has been banding hummingbirds that are peeing red. So that would mean they are migrants. Sarah

Penny,
Do you find the preferences changing throughout the season? At first, they only seemed highly interested in Agastache, Black and Blue Salvia and Monarda. Now, the previously ignored feeder as well as the Gartenmeister Fuschia are the top attractants even though the other plants are still blooming.

Thank you Oubliette and Sarah,
I have been missing all of you too! Hubby is doing much better but will have the cast for at least another week and a half and then they may put on a soft cast so I will still be doing all his yardwork etc. which I don't mind b/c then I get to spend more time hummer watching!

I am seeing more activity right now than I have all summer but still not what I had last year.

Harry,
My agastaches have just recently started to bloom but they have been using the salvias for quite a while now along with the monarda. For the longest time this year they only used the feeders even though I had honeysuckle, black and blue, and gatenmeister fuschia and cuphea in bloom. For the last 3 weeks at least they are using both the feeders and the plants and they are using them a lot!

Penny

Penny I am so glad to hear from you. You sure have put out a wonderful feast for those hummers. I am sorry to say I finally lost all of my jewel weed. I don't guess it liked my climate.

I have been able to stay ouside a good bit lately and I am seeing hummers at everything. It is so good to see them at a plant that was planted especially for them.

I am still waiting for my Mexican flame vine to bloom. I was told that they like this flower too.

Penny - If you're still checking this forum, I'm curious if your list above was sort of in order of what they liked the most. I've been leafing through my catalogs trying to decide what to order. I don't have Jacob Cline yet and may get that. The only monarda I've had is Marshall's Delight. It was pretty but didn't bloom nearly as long as my salvia's and I didn't see any hummingbirds going to it. Does Jacob Cline have a long bloom time?

Hi Christie,
Yes I do still check this forum. To answer your first question. No I didn't list the plants by popularity per se but the Jacob's Cline was definitely in the running for number one while it was blooming. The salvias have a much longer bloom time as well as the honeysuckle so those fed the hummers all summer.

My first bee balm was also Marshall's Delight and the bees are more attracted to it than the hummers. In fact I just dug mine out at the end of the summer when it finished blooming to make room for more jacob's cline. The hummers were all over the jacob's cline until it stopped blooming and it did bloom for quite a while but not as long as the salvias of course. Jacob's Cline is definitely one to get. It is also less prone to powdery mildew.

Coral honeysuckle bloomed all summer and the hummers loved it as much as the salvia. My agastaches bloomed a bit later but those were also a big hit as well as the cannas once they were discovered.

If a plant doesn't prove beneficial to my hummers it comes out at the end of the season to make room for other plants. Since I grow nearly all of my plants from seed, I can afford to be very choosy about what stays and what goes.

Penny

Thanks Penny! I think my hummingbirds need some Jacob Cline. : )
Salvia guaranitica has been their favorite here. I got brave last year and divided mine so I'm hoping they come back after winter. I had one guaranitica plant that I leave in the ground every year and so far it's been returning for me. I tried not to divide too much off of it so I hope it will come back at least. Winter has been pretty mild so far except for a couple nights when we dipped down near zero early in the winter and I'm concerned that some plants might not have been hardened off yet.
I had a canna with small red flowers that they liked but I didn't catch them going to any other cannas. I also saw them visit my red cypress vine a few times. I never did see them going to my 'Black and Blue' but maybe I didn't check it at the right time.
Is coral honeysuckle one of the non-invasive types? I think I might have seen it locally. I wonder if there are different kinds that are called "coral" or if I would be safe buying one somewhere that doesn't have the botanical name on the tag also.

Hi Christie,
Yes Jacob Cline will definitely be a good addition to your garden. You should be able to divide it also after about 2 seasons. I didn't have the Guaranitica but I have had the salvia Guaranitica 'Black and Blue' for the past 3 years and the hummers were all over it all summer long. Every year I bring them inside for the winter but this year I just didn't have room for 5 of them so I only brought one inside. I am keeping my fingers crossed that maybe one will make it and come back. So far our winter has been very mild up here too. We had a few days down in the 20's but that has been about as cold as it has been so far. The past week it has been in the mid 30's to low 40's.

The cannas i have are all the small flowered ones. Those are the ones that the hummers are attracted to. The large flowered ones are not as nectar rich.

The coral honeysuckle is the native honeysuckle and is not invasive like the Japanese honeysuckle. The botanical name is Lonicera sempervirens. THis was one of the few plants that I purchased and I purchased it from Mal Order Natives online. The link is below. You can't beat her prices but she has a very short shipping period as she is in Florida. I purchased mine close to the spring deadline so I had to keep it inside for a few weeks up here as it was sitll pretty cold here. It was a fantastically robust plant and started to bloom shortly after I put it outside and it bloomed all summer until I cut it back in the fall. I couldn't find anyone either locally or online that could beat her prices ($6.00 plus $3.00 for shipping). There are two other Lonicera Sempervirens besides the coral and they are Alambama Crimson and Dropmore Scarlet. I think these two are a deeper orange/red than the coral is.

The one that you don't want is Hall's Honeysuckle or Lonicera japonica. That is the one that is invasive.

Penny

Here is a link that might be useful: Mail Order Natives

I do have some lonicera japonica but not by choice. It has come up in my fence row and I've sprayed it with Roundup a couple times but it seems to be winning. I guess I need to get a little more aggressive or it may be the ONLY thing that I have in my fence row eventually. I think there are a couple other honeysuckles that are listed as invasive for Missouri.
I have read that Black and Blue is not as hardy as the species guaranitica so keep your fingers crossed. I'm hoping I'll have enough of the species to trade with someday if my smaller plants winter over. I put a couple of them close to the house so maybe those will make it at least.
Thank you for that link.

Hi Christie,
Even thought the Japanese honeysuckle is invasive, the hummers DO go for it.

I too am keeping my fingers crossed on the Black and
Blue. So far the winter has not been bad and if it stays mild my plants may have a chance.

Penny

Penny. I kept note of all these plants that you and the others listed.

I also found that Select Seeds sells plants, and the prices look really good. They have loads of hummingbird plants. Have you ever ordered from them?

Thanks
Maureen

Penny, this is a great list... thank you very much for posting it. I had a lot of hummers this last summer and I'll be putting in my plants for them this year! Peg

Penny, (or anyone else out there!) have you tried Spigelia? I'm trying to decide if it might be worth getting.

I ordered some Jacob Kline and Gardenview Scarlet Monarda plants this fall, but gave all of the Jacob Klines to a friend, and kept the Gardenview Scarlet for myself. He wanted shorter plants, and I wanted taller ones, and we both would like to get more hummingbirds. After reading your post, it looks as though he might have gotten the better end of that arrangement. Before reading this thread, I didn't realize that there could be such a difference in hummer preferences between the various cultivars of Monarda. I just assumed they liked them all. I was rather dismayed to hear of your negative experience with Marshall's Delight and am hoping that my Gardenview Scarlets won't also be a dud with the birds. Now I'm sorry I gave away the Jacob Klines.

Any thoughts, anyone, on Gardenview Scarlet, and its attractiveness to the hummers? I hope I didn't keep the wrong variety, but at least my friend will be happy!

Kristin
I haven't grown Spigelia myself but a couple of people here have. I don't think it blooms very long but not sure since I don't have it myself.

Not familar with the Gardenview Scarlet Monarda but I did look it up. It looks a lot like the Jacob's Cline in respect to the flower size. So it may do quite well for your hummers. I do know that they were all over the Jacob's Cline as long as it was in bloom.

Marshall's Delight did have a little activity but mostly by the fledglings that had to check out everything in the garden. The honey bees certainly liked it. I did pull most of mine out at the end of the summer this year in order to make more room for my Jacob's Cline and more salvias. I also pulled out a lot of my Purple Coneflowers that were taking over the Salvia bed but left some fot hte bees and butterflies in another area.

I will be focusing more on the Jacob's Cline, the Salvias, Standing cypress, Cannas and Agastaches for summer. Vines will be limited to coral honeysuckle, cypress vine, scarlet runner beans, crossvine (if my babies that I started last year survive the winter)and Orange Noah morning Glory. Shrubs for early spring bloom are azalea, rhododendron red flowering current, and hopefully bottlebrush buckeye if my seeds sprout. Then the hanging baskets and containers will contain the less hardy plants such as the fushia, impatiens, cupheas and candy corn vine (if I can keep it going the rest of the year inside).

This is the way I am thinking right now. I may be adding to the list as I go through the seeds I have already amassed through trades. My space is somewhat limited for planting as my DH still loves his grass so I have to make room for the tried and true first and then if space permists, I can experiment with others.

Penny

Thanks, Penny, for answering so quickly. Maybe there is some hope for the Gardenview Scarlet. The foundation of the hummingbird garden is my Trumpet vine (the pale orange flowered one--flava?). This fall, into my artificially lined wet garden, I added 4 Gardenview Scarlet Monarda, which seem to be settling in nicely, and a couple Mimulus cardinalis, which I'm not sure are surviving the winter. I've put in a cluster of 5 Aquilegia canadensis in a better drained spot, above a low wall, and they definitely seem to be surviving this strange, non-winter we've been having. I also put a single hardy Hibiscus into its own personal artificial bog. I bought it on a whim at a local grocery store. The flowers are so huge that it will be fun to watch if the tiny birds visit them.

I need plants that will tolerate partial shade, so Spigelia might be a nice addition, even if it doesn't bloom that long. I'm still thinking about it. Maybe I should try some Salvias, but seems to me they like sun. I'll have to do some research. Lobelia cardinalis is certainly an option, especially while I'm still in "bog mode!" Maybe I'll just stick some annuals in, like Nicotiana, which has worked for me in the past and self sows like crazy. However, it doesn't bloom well until later in the day, kind of like 4-O'Clocks. Maybe some Fuchsia baskets would work, but not sure if the fancy ones you see in the stores have any nectar in them.

Kristin,
as far as fuschia goes, try and find gartenmeister bonstadt fushia. It is more of an upright low growing shrub but does well in hanging baskets and in containers. They don't have the little bulbous part at the base of the trumpet shaped flower. The hummers love this particular fuschia. If you don't mind having wild flowers then spotted jewelweed does great in moist shady gardens. It will reseed like crazy but the seedlings have very shallow roots and are very easy to remove. the seeds needs to be sown in the fall and overwinter inground in order to sprout and bloom the next year.

Hostas also do well in moist shade and the hummers will use them also but not as much if there are other plants available. Bleeding hearts will also do well in your conditions. Early spring bloomer and they are also used.
Penny

Penny,

Thanks for the advice. I may see if I can find that particular fuchsia, and do some research on whether it tolerates part shade and very moist soil.

As for Jewelweed, thanks for the suggestion, but I'm not thrilled with Jewelweed as a garden plant. It looks pretty in the woods, and just carpets the hollows around here, but I don't think it would look right in my garden because I just don't have enough space for a proper massing of them.

I forgot to mention that I have Bleeding Heart. I forgot about it because it isn't in easy view from the window and is in a different part of the garden than the rest of the hummer plants. It's in an old perennial bed that has really gone to hell and yet this lone plant has continued to survive well in spite of the encroachments of weeds. I hadn't thought about the bleeding heart, probably because I'd just as soon forget that the derelict garden exists. It's going to take a lot of work to get it back into shape, and I just haven't felt up to it. I'll have to keep an eye out this spring for the Bleeding Heart and see if gets any visitors.

I haven't really noticed hummers in the spring around here. Obviously, they must be around, but it wasn't until last summer that I first got the idea to put up a feeder. Over the years, the hummers I'd seen were coming to my mid and late summer garden plants. I really will have to start paying more attention this spring--especially to the earlier bloomers like the Bleeding Heart and the Aquilegia. I will also be sure to put my little home made whisky bottle feeder up in April. I made it from one of those sample sized bottles that had been kicking around the house from who knows where. It works extremely well, and doesn't drip all over the place like some of the commercial ones I've seen. I was getting at least four different birds last summer, possibly more, so maybe some of those same ones will survive the return trip. I hope so. If they do, my little whisky bottle feeder will be waiting. Fortunately, the hummers aren't snobbish about these sorts of things, just hungry!

You will have to let us know if your Mimulus survives. I am not sure but I don't think they are hardy enough up here. I should have mentioned that some salvias do well in part shade. Most of mine are in morning sun and afternnnon shade and they bloom like crazy. I never saw my hummers using the hardy hibiscus. I know they go for the tropical hibiscus.

Penny