I also just moved into a new house and am starting from scratch on my garden. I was also intereted in a hummingbird garden. I think everything I'm naming is hardy to zone 4. This is what I've planted so far: *Catawbiense Rhododdendron 'Bourseault' (closest I could find to the species plant, I got mine at Home Depot) *Aquilegia canadensis Wild Columbine *Campsis radicans Trumpet Creeper *Lonicera sempervirens Coral Honeysuckle *Aesculus pavia Red Buckeye (It is hardy to zone 4 even though the linked website says 6) *Spigelia marilandica Indian Pink *Lobelia cardinalis Cardinal Flower *Monarda didyma Oswega Tea *Monarda didyma 'Jacob Cline' Lilium michiganense Turk's Cap Lily (more known is *L. canadense) Liatris pycnostachya Prairie Blazing Star Silene virginica Fiery Campion Dicentra eximia Wild Bleeding Heart Astilbe 'Larissa' Crocosmia Montbretia 'Fire King' Phlox paniculata 'Tenor' Tricyrtis hirta Toad Lily Among others (I don't want to exhaust you!) The ones with stars are recommended as the top 10 hummingbird plants. The only one I don't have is spotted jewelweed, only because I think it is weedy looking. I see it growing naturally around here. The others are things I liked and read in various websites, catalogs or forums that people found to attract hummingbirds. I try to select species plants because they are thought to have more nectar than hybrids. Although the hybrids I planted, I planted because they are much easier to find! This website along with the link I entered, I found quite helpful. Copy and paste http://www.hummingbirds.net/attract.html I started a journal on daves garden. If you interested in looking at it let me know. Here is a link that might be useful: Top Ten

A note about sugar ratio and percent: To say a 1:4 sugar:water mix is 20% sugar is incorrect; the sugar is in dry, granulated form and the water is (obviously) liquid. The sugar industry expresses sugar concentration as percent sugar by weight (mass for you scientists) also known as Brix; where one Brix is equivalent to 1 gram sugar dissolved in a 100 gram sugar solution. This is the number a sugar refractometer will give you. A cup of sugar weighs 200 grams. A cup of water weighs 237 grams. A 1:4 sugar mix is 200 grams sugar + 948 grams water = 1148 grams total. Percent sugar by weight or Brix is: 200g / 1148g x 100 = 17% (rounded to the nearest percent). You 1:4 purists are only offering half the sugar concentration found in natural nectar preferred by Hummers! So, get over it already... By the same method: A 1:3 sugar mix is 200g / 911g x 100 = 22% by weight A 1:2 sugar mix is 200g / 674g x 100 = 30% by weight A 1:1 sugar mix is 200g / 437g x 100 = 46% by weight Benjamin F Tucker was among the first to mass-feed hummers in the 1930s and '40s. He used laboratory glassware to make his feeders (no Perky-Pet or Droll Yankees back then). His work was described in the December 1946 Popular Mechanics article: "Hummingbird Cafeteria". The lead photo shows 22 of his 'beaker feeders' lined up on wood shelves. A quote from page 125: "If you supply artificial nectar - half water and half sugar - he'll stay long after blooming time." Sounds like a 1:1 sugar mix to me - 46 Brix - and I don't believe he poisoned a single hummer... (PM December 1946 may be found on-line - I'll let you figure that out for yourself...) - waw -

Remarkably colorful for "blackbirds." I have never been able to attract them to the house, but I did see my first Bullock's oriole of the season today at work!

Thanks for sharing. I am miles NW of you and put feeders up 2 days ago. I have not yet seen hummers. ETA 5-10-25 lots of daily rain — 3” so out of drought. Hummer at feeder 5-7-25.