SEATTLE — Master Gardener Ciscoe Morris knows how to bring all the hummingbirds to your yard!
Ciscoe's hummingbird tips:
As attractive as hummingbird feeders are, the most effective way to persuade hummingbirds to live and nest in your garden, is to provide a wide variety of plants that produce nectar-rich flowers favored by hummingbirds. Here are a few of my favorite hummingbird plants guaranteed to attract these little Arial aviators to your garden. Although quite a number of fragrant flowers made the list, just because a plant has scented flowers doesn't mean it will attract hummingbirds. Hummingbirds can see and hear better than humans, but they have no sense of smell. Although it’s true that hummingbirds are highly attracted to red flowers, once they make your garden their territory, you’ll be amazed at the variety of flowers of practically every color that they visit regularly. One thing is for sure, the more different kinds of nectar-producing flowers you grow the more likely it is that hummingbirds will make your garden their permanent home.
Ciscoe’s favorite hummingbird attracting perennials:
When it comes to a prolific fall bloomer that drives hummingbirds into fits of gluttony, nothing surpasses Salvia microphylla 'Hot Lips'. This non-spreading member of the mint family has red and white flowers and has proved to be hardy in our area, as long as it’s planted in full sun and well-drained soil. To keep your 'hot-lips' looking its best, cut the entire plant back to about 6 inches from the ground in mid-March. It will quickly grow back to form a 4 foot tall and wide shrub with small leaves and dark stems that serve as the perfect foil for the striking, bright flowers that usually last well past Thanksgiving.
Another group of flowering shrubs that continue blooming to keep the hummingbirds fat and happy are the hardy fuchsias. How can anyone resist these magnificent plants? They're easy to grow and bloom from June until frost with beautiful flowers that are irresistible to hummingbirds. A few of my favorites include 'Lady Boothby' with large, red, and purple-black flowers, 'Cardinal' with scarlet blooms, and 'Mrs. Popple' featuring big scarlet and purple flowers. For extra cold tolerance, plant your hardy Fuchsia 4 inches deeper than it comes out of the pot. Except in very hot areas, plant them in full sun. Mulch in winter, fertilize with organic flower food every 6 weeks in spring and summer, beginning in March, and water regularly. Wait to cut them back to about 4 inches from the ground until new growth begins in spring.
Abutilons, (flowering maples) are among the showiest shrubs you can plant in your garden. Native to South America, they also begin flowering as early as May with colorful, lantern-shaped flowers, and although only a few species of Abutilon have proved to be winter hardy in our area, they often keep pumping out flowers until well past Thanksgiving. Abutilon megapotamicum, featuring lovely red and yellow lanterns is the champ when it comes to hardiness, but in order to survive outdoors, it must be planted early in the season in a protected site with extremely well-drained soil. Most other varieties may not prove as hardy, however, so if you don’t want to risk losing a prized specimen, if temperatures in the low 20’s are forecast, dig and pot it up and overwinter it indoors as a houseplant. If you decide to risk leaving your Abutilon out in the garden to see if it will survive, mulch heavily with leaves or compost, covering the entire bottom third of the shrub. Hopefully, growth will occur on the stems that were covered with mulch when you remove them in early April. Just in case take cuttings in the fall. Cuttings root easily in water, and planted in spring, usually grow rapidly enough to bloom by mid-summer. It’s important to keep plenty of new ones ready to plant to save you from the wrath of angry hummingbirds if the ones you leave in the garden don’t survive the winter!
One of the best summer-blooming perennials that continue flowering late into fall is the evergreen Penstemons. The two-lipped, tubular flowers come in a wide variety of colors. Hummingbirds are crazy about them, although I noticed that there are times in the middle of summer when they won’t go near them. I figured out why they were avoiding them when I looked closely and noticed that there was a big fat bumblebee butt sticking out of practically every blossom! Fortunately, that isn’t a problem in late fall when hummingbirds feast regularly on the nectar-rich blossoms. Two of my favorite hybrids often continue blooming right up until frost. ‘Garnet’ is a strong grower, reaching 2 ft tall and wide, and is clothed with garnet red flowers. Even more vigorous is ‘Midnight’. Reaching 3 feet tall, this non-stop bloomer features purple-tinged stems, dark green leaves, and large trumpet-shaped dark-purple flowers late into fall. Plant these reliable all-season bloomers in rich, well-drained garden soil and deadhead regularly, and they’ll usually keep flowering away until hit by a frost.
Perennial Lobelia is a perennial that doesn’t even begin to bloom until late summer. I’m not talking about the annual Lobelias that you see in hanging baskets, these are upright 3 to 6 ft tall perennials covered with showy tubular flowers that come in a number of vivid colors. They prefer moist soil and a sunny location. Feed once in April, and cut them down at the end of the season. If they’re happy the clump just keeps getting bigger every year. My hands-down favorite is Lobelia Tupa reaching 6 feet tall with dark red flowers.
If you plant Crocosmia you’ll not only attract hummingbirds, you’ll add fiery color to your garden as well. Although they are native to South Africa, most Crocosmias are hardy in our area and easy to grow. With sword-shaped leaves, Crocosmias are sculptural perennials, but the raison d’etre has to be the colorful blooms that come in fiery shades of orange, red, and yellow. Crocosmias generally perform best in full sun and require dividing in spring every few years if flowering diminishes.
Finally, some plants you wouldn’t expect to attract hummingbirds are loved by them. Who would have thought hummingbirds would love Clematis? One of the best is Clematis Rooguchia sporting indigo-violet to dark blue bell-shaped flowers that are not only spectacularly beautiful, and bloom all season long, but are totally irresistible to hummingbirds
Segment Producer Suzie Wiley. Watch New Day Northwest 11 AM weekdays on KING 5 and streaming live on KING5.com. Contact New Day.