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When I had a larger porch, I had several bird feeders to attract hummingbirds and other birds. I could buy feeders now, but accidentally and delightfully discovered that some of my plants attract hummingbirds. Today I want to talk about how to attract hummingbirds to your garden by growing specific plants.
Since I’m all about saving money, I have added some plants to my garden to attract these beautiful birds to my balcony. I love the fact that I can bring in hummingbirds and other wildlife just by the plants I choose to grow.
Why Hummingbirds Like Certain Plants
Hummingbirds love plants with flowers in a variety of colors, but they are most attracted to plants with red flowers. The red color reminds these little birds of food. It’s also a color to camouflage them from bees.
Colors
One way you can learn how to attract hummingbirds to your garden is growing plants in specific colors. Hummingbirds like feeding off of flowers that are yellow, orange, pink and red. Red is a more popular color, but hummingbirds have fed off my yellow and orange flowering plants as well.
Size
Hummingbirds will drink from large and small flowers. As long as a flower produces nectar, hummingbirds don’t care how tiny or huge the nectar is coming from.
Shape
Since hummingbirds have long, thin beaks, it is common to see them feed off of flowers with the same shape. They can drink nectar from small, thin flowers, as well as large open flowers. This is why it’s a good idea to have different types of flowers in your garden.
Types of Plants Hummingbirds Enjoy
As stated above, hummingbirds love a variety of flowers in different colors. There are particular flowering plants they get nectar from more than others. I will explain to you these flowers below.
Hibiscus
Hummingbirds love these plants with their huge, colorful flowers. I have an orange and pink hibiscus plant that hummingbirds love to drink from. These plants come in a variety of colors and are a great addition to any garden.
Lantanas
Lantanas are another great flowering plant to add to your garden to attract butterflies. I love my pink and yellow lantanas. I have seen them in yellow, orange and purple all over town. There are over 100 species of lantanas to choose from.
Marigolds
Marigolds are another colorful flowering plant that can attract hummingbirds to your garden. I bought mine to keep aphids from my hibiscus, so if they can also attract hummingbirds to my garden, that is an added bonus!
Zinnias
Zinnias are additional colorful and inexpensive flowers to add to your garden to keep hummingbirds coming back. They are easy to grow and just need to be watered on a regular basis. Zinnias come in a variety of beautiful colors!
Fuchsias
Another personal favorite are fuchsias. These also come in a variety of colors. I love watching hummingbirds drink from my hanging fuchsias.
Fuchsias can also be grown in several ways. They grow great in hanging pots or on a vine. Either way, hummingbirds will come back for the sweet nectar these plants produce.
Petunias
Petunias are popular flowers that keep hummingbirds returning for food. Pick a color, then enjoy as hummingbirds relocate to your garden for food.
Salvia
Hummingbirds also love the red hue of salvias. These flowers also come in other colors, although red is popular.
Friends
Many of these plants also attract butterflies. Some days I have both hummingbirds and butterflies visit my small balcony garden. I love how my plants attract these beautiful creatures!
How to Attract Hummingbirds
As you can see, there are many types of flowers that will attract hummingbirds to your garden. If you know how to attract hummingbirds to your garden in other ways, please do not hesitate to tell me below. Happy hummingbird hunting!
Rebecca C says
I was just wondering recently about how I might attract hummingbirds to our backyard. Thanks for sharing! Turns out I have three of the flowers you listed growing out back. Maybe I just need to spend more time out on the patio and watching!
annmarie1979 says
Nice! Maybe add a hummingbird feeder too and see if that will attract them. And make sure you can see your yard from inside the house. You never know when they will stop by!
gaiainaction says
A great review of how to attract hummingbirds, how lovely your photos also.
I thank you for visiting and following my blog at http://.gaiainaction.wordpress.com
Kind regards
Agnes
annmarie1979 says
Thank you Agnes!
mainepaperpusher says
Great post! I love your small/small garden theme. Excellent! Your photos are lovely and I especially like the one of the hummer in the Monarda. It’s like the Where’s Waldo for the bird world. Thanks for the follow and I can’t help but follow you. Looking forward to your upcoming posts.
annmarie1979 says
Thank you! I want to share with other small space gardeners, as well as gardeners in general, how to make the most of the space you have. Thank you for the follow too!
darwinontherocks says
Very useful post! I’ve also always wondered if they were just attracted to sweet things or pheromones. This is interesting!
annmarie1979 says
Thank you! I learned a lot of new things about hummingbirds while researching for this blog post. Thanks for stopping by!
houstonphotojourney says
mainepaperpusher sent me over as I am trying hard not to kill my plants anymore 🙂 – nice site!
annmarie1979 says
Welcome! I have a few plants that I need to revive myself. I will do my best to help!
houstonphotojourney says
Thanks and nice to meet ya!
oldhouseintheshires says
I have a link up party for garden/gardening bloggers. Fancy joining in?
https://oldhouseintheshires.com/2017/06/28/mygloriousgardens-week-4-lets-link-up/
annmarie1979 says
Yes! Thank you!
oldhouseintheshires says
Cool… follow the link. If you get stuck…let me know. X
naturebackin says
I think that it is great to plant to attract hummingbirds and other pollinators. It is good to include some indigenous plants in the mix too, especially those naturally occurring in the area, as these benefit other smaller pollinators too (some are plant specialists) and is also good for biodiversity, and also it is really interesting to find out about alternatives to the mainstream nursery mainstays. I was surprised to see the lantana in your list of suggested plants as here (in South Africa) as in many parts of the world lantanas are highly invasive aliens, displacing many indigenous species. I gather it is a real problem in parts of the US too, so perhaps this facet is worth investigating? I love your pics of the gorgeous little birds.
annmarie1979 says
I did not know that about lantanas. They grow everywhere here, as well as sold at many nurseries. I will look into that though. I wish I could take credit for these pictures. They are from pixabay.com. Someday I will try to take pics of these fast fliers.
mainepaperpusher says
Ann Marie, I wanted you to know that I’ve nominated you for the Unique Blogger Award-Snark version. It’s snarky because I love to give Nel (the person who nominated me) a very hard time in jest. As always, feel free to participate or not. I just love your blog and want others to know about it, too. https://wordpress.com/post/mainepaperpusher.wordpress.com/5271
annmarie1979 says
Ah, thank you so much! That means a lot to me!
mainepaperpusher says
I loved your blog the minute I clicked on it. Sorry the first award was so convoluted, but Nel had it coming! Ok, maybe she didn’t but that doesn’t stop me! This is what I do to my friends, be warned! Hehehe
naturebackin says
Good luck with your research into lantanas in your area. I have never seen a hummingbird (they do not occur here) but I can imagine they must be really tricky to photograph, being so tiny and so fast on the wing. How lovely to have them visiting the garden.
Eliza Waters says
I bought Cigar plant (Cuphea ignea) this year and it is by far my most visited plant – they can’t leave it alone!
annmarie1979 says
I’ve never heard of a Cigar plant. I’ll have to check them out since hummingbirds seem to like them to much! Thanks for sharing!
Green Fingered Blogger says
Humming birds are so gorgeous. We have to make do with robins, sparrows, blue tits, doves, finches and blackbirds here. We do occasionally see woodpeckers, and the other morning a heron appeared from nowhere and gave me a start! #MyGloriousGardens
Ann says
Oh wow! Sounds like you get quite a selection of birds! Yes, I do enjoy seeing these little guys throughout the year. We also get herons, blackbirds, doves, finches, and occasionally owls and hawks. I have some fuchsias in a hanging planter right by my window, and I always stop my work to admire the hummingbirds who feed off it. Thanks for stopping by!
nic@nipitinthebud says
Wow that would be the garden of dreams to have all those wonderful flowers in one place. And then to see a humming bird too would be amazing! I live in the city where seagulls are our regular visitors which sometimes come to a sticky end thanks to the neighbourhood’s rogue tom cat!
Ann says
Oh no! We have seagulls that fly around from time to time as well, as well as an assortment of other birds. Yes, I can’t complain about the nice selection of flowers that can be grown here year round due to our mild climate :). Thank you for stopping by!
Barbara Radisavljevic says
The hummingbirds seem to like my black sage even though its flowers aren’t very colorful. I grow many sage varieties, but only one is red. I also see hummingbirds enjoying my butterfly bush.
Ann says
Maybe the hummingbirds like the smell or taste of the black sage? It seems like butterflies like similar plants that hummingbirds enjoy. Isn’t it great that we can grow plants that attract these critters? Thank you for visiting!
Jane Stephens says
Beautiful photos Ann and what lovely little birds! It is little wonder that they enjoy your garden so much with all those colourful flowers!
Ann says
Thank you Jane! It has been fun growing colorful plants that attract hummingbirds. And I enjoy the colorful plants as well!
Jeff Wood says
I have been trying for years to get hummingbirds into my yard with no luck. I’m told they are around our city but have yet to see any. Lots of great plant ideas here to keep trying!
#MyGloriousGardens
Ann says
Yes, keep trying to grow different plants to see which ones may attract hummingbirds. You never know, the plants may attract hummingbirds or other kinds of animals. Have fun experimenting!
Sally says
What a lovely bird to have stop by your garden. I’ve only ever seen one once!
Ann says
Really?! I forget that wildlife is different in other parts of the world. We get hummingbirds for most of the year here, probably due to the mild weather. They are fun to watch. And they are so pretty too! Thank you for visiting!
Susan@whatsupsusan says
This is brilliant. I had no idea I could attract hummingbirds without the red juice! I am sharing this in my pinterest. Glad to find your wondeful blog via the party today!
Ann says
I’m glad you found me too! I’m always happy to get new readers! I have hummingbirds visiting my garden all the time due to the plants I grow. Just this afternoon I had one visitor. One of my succulents has bright orange flowers that they love to drink from. Thanks for stopping by!
Sophie says
I back to say thank you for cohosting Ann!
I reread this and thought I wished we could get hummingbirds in our gardens here in the U.K.! What a sight that must be. Xx
Ann says
You are welcome and thank you for letting me help out! It has been a ton of fun! That is too bad! Hummingbirds are wonderful to watch in the garden. I’ve been seeing one or two a day on my balcony lately. I’m sure you get visitors that we don’t get out here though :).