Late Plants for Hummingbirds
Planting Regions |
If you are a gardener who has traveled to England on a garden tour, you will have noticed that their otherwise lovely gardens are missing something. Hummingbirds! They add so much to the gardening experience that I wouldn’t trade the hummingbirds for anything. In fact, my return from a tour of England renewed my dedication to discovering more plants to keep hummingbirds in my garden as long as possible in the late summer and fall. Let them head south on a full stomach, remembering fabulous desserts.
African Snacks
It might be flowers of orange and red that attract hummingbirds to your garden, but blue flowers will get noticed.
The first time I saw them sipping at my agapanthus (lily of the Nile), I did a double-take. These plants, of African origin, are blue. They are not reliably hardy here in Portland, so I grow them in pots on the deck so that they can be easily protected in our Zone 7 winters. The strong, clean flower stems carry aloft six-inch-wide balls of lily-shaped florets.
The color may be pale to dark blue, or white. Often seen in public gardens in California, agapanthus is hardy on the Oregon and Washington coasts.
A favorite cultivar is ‘Storm Cloud,’ with aptly named navy blue florets on 36-inch stems.
Most children are familiar with red hot pokers, the reliable cottage garden plant with tall stems of tubular flowers in coral and yellow. The genus, Kniphofias, is also native to Africa, yet hummingbirds know they are a good source of nectar. The common species, K. uvaria, blooms in June. Newer cultivars (like ‘Percy’s Pride’) and recently introduced species bloom later, or can be prompted to rebloom.
Some gardeners look askance at such bold colors, but these days red hot pokers aren’t always shockingly loud. Try ‘Primrose Beauty,’ which blooms at four feet tall in a soft shade of yellow, or try the similar, although shorter, ‘Dainty Maid.’ The glowing, solidly and unrepentantly orange shining scepter blooms in August and September.
More than anything else in my garden, hummingbirds like crocosmia. Our grandmothers would have known these plants as montbretia. Brought to the New World from South Africa, this pass-along plant, grown from crocuslike corms, moved west with the wagon trains. The graceful little orange trumpets dance on branched, wiry three-foot stems that hang above the grassy foliage. The English created the fiercely red form, ‘Lucifer,’ which blooms in June and July, and there is a new selection that flowers in September, known as ‘Late Lucifer.’ If I come around the west side of my garden unannounced while this plant is in bloom, I get a more than thorough scolding from the Anna’s hummingbirds, especially in the evening.
Other autumn-blooming cultivars include bright peach ‘Venus,’ golden citronella, orange and yellow-centered ‘Constance,’ or the orange and burgundy-faced ‘Emily MacKenzie.’ Hummingbirds find all of these tempting.
Sipping Salvias
As gardeners grow more plants from Central and South America, hummingbirds can increasingly follow a trail of familiar plants along their migration routes. The jarring red annual salvia (Salvia splendens), is no longer the only choice from this genus. Many nurseries have experimented with species from higher elevations in Mexico and the Andes and have found surprising hardiness.
Here’s the trick with perennial salvias: Most develop hollow stems as they die down in the winter. If you cut them back too early, you leave hollow stumps that will provide a water conduit to the crown of the plant. This means that in areas of heavy winter rain, water will freeze or rot the plant’s crown, even if you have provided excellent drainage. Therefore, do not tidy the old stems of your perennial salvias until you see new growth emerging in early spring, yet another reason to put off a formerly autumnal chore.
The royal blue S. guaranitica is hardy for me in Zone 7 and blooms until frost on five-foot stems. Hummingbirds like this, as well as the hybrids called ‘Black and Blue’ (which has dark stems and calyxes) and ‘Omaha Gold’ (with gold-chartreuse foliage).
Another salvia species that both you and the hummingbirds will find tasty is pineapple sage (S. elegans). The foliage is fuzzy and aromatic, a good candidate for the herb garden. It has delicate thin tubular flowers, more hot pink than red. Alas, it is rarely hardy here, but it blooms until frost, and I think of it as a multipurpose annual.
Yet another salvia your hummingbirds should sample is S. greggii, which has been the subject of a lot of hybridization lately. Not as tall as S. guaranitica, S. greggii can go in a pot or in the ground, where it often winters over in the Portland or Seattle areas. Forms of this plant are seen in the Northeast in public container plantings in New York City and Boston. The Wave Hill garden in the Bronx is known for experimenting with different salvias.
There are many color forms of this species. Look for the sizzling ‘Ruby Maraschino,’ or the hot pink ‘Raspberry Ripple.’ ‘Desert Blaze’ is scarlet with variegated foliage. The typical species color for S. greggii is light pink, also a hummingbird magnet.
Not Just for Butterflies
We think of the woody shrub buddleia as butterfly bush, and indeed it is often covered with swallowtails when it blooms in August and September (Zones 6 through 10). The clusters of bloom are long and pointed and are usually any shade of purple, white, pink, nearly blue, and nearly red; one species is gold. This is a big sprawling plant that blooms on its new wood, so hard pruning in early spring is in order.
They will rebloom well if you remove the spent flowers. Hummingbirds love the scented blossoms, and will spend hours working a shrub. My experience is that the cultivar ‘Pink Delight’ wins the popularity contest in my garden, but a friend across town says her hummingbirds like her white form, ‘White Bouquet.’ To each her own!
Try to think of your garden and its growing season as one long meal for hummingbirds that you will serve in several courses. Spring may start with an appetizer of flowering currant and wood hyacinths. Summer brings hearty entrées such as fuchsias and all the condiments in hanging baskets such as impatiens and ivy geraniums. And the high point of any meal is dessert, the sweet rich flowers that bloom to the end of the season: the salvias, buddleia, crocosmias, and red hot pokers.
A selection of these plants on your garden’s menu will have hummingbirds coming back for more and recommending you to their friends!
Pacific Coast/Northwest
Urban gardeners in the Pacific Northwest typically see Anna’s and rufous hummingbirds throughout the summer. Their range extends north to British Columbia and southeast Alaska, and I like to think I am providing a bed-and-breakfast for those birds heading to California and points south as the days shorten. Anna’s hummingbirds tend to hang around as long as there is something tasty in bloom. Calliopes prefer higher elevations than Portland, Seattle, and Vancouver, B.C., but are happy to visit gardens in Bend, Oregon (elevation 4,000 feet) and points east of the Cascade Range.
On the coast, the range of the Allen’s hummingbird in the north overlaps with the Anna’s and rufous in the summer; it is the Anna’s that lives in the mild coastal climate all year long. The doubly decorated male Anna’s has not only a brilliant rose-violet gorget, but a vivid forehead as well, making it the dominant hummingbird in inter-species squabbles. Even the female gets into the act, with an elegant spot of color on her throat.
As I work outside I can tell by the flight sound which species is paying a garden visit. The Anna’s hummingbird zips along with the smooth sound of humming feathers. Rufous hummingbirds are more rackety as they zoom past, often chased by the flashier Anna’s. Both species have their preferred nectar sources. What is constantly amazing is how these New World birds will exploit Old World plants for food. Like human beings, hummingbirds are always willing to try something new.
Canadian North
Alas, we do not have the mix of hummingbirds here in the Northeast enjoyed by the author in her northwestern garden. We have only the ruby-throated hummingbird. But our low diversity of species seems to be offset by high numbers of rubythroats. I enjoy the birds’ continued presence from May through September, and like to think their omnipresence is due at least in part to the botanical smorgasbord I have set out for them.
My garden offers a wide selection of appetizers and entrées in the spring with an even broader choice in early summer. But as the days grow shorter, so does the menu.
There is still enough good cuisine in late summer and early fall to keep my hummingbird restaurant in business. A favorite August aperitif for my hummingbirds is cardinal flower (Lobelia cardinalis). This treasured wildflower does not adorn my garden but is widely scattered in the area along streambanks.
Another wildflower, far more abundant, is common in damp, shady places on my land. Some call it jewelweed and others, spotted touch-me-not. This succulent plant (Impatiens capensis) sparkles when droplets of water cling to its waxy leaves like diamonds. Add to this its trumpetlike flowers and a dining rubythroat or two and you have a grand display of natural beauty. Inside the seed pods, which burst open when you touch them, lies more beauty. The triangular seeds, which mature by late summer, are a brilliant turquoise when the seed coats are removed. These understory plants of damp woodlands do not grow in my sunny garden.
Near my house I rely on four vines to attract hummingbirds in the fall. Three annuals, scarlet runner bean, nasturtium, and red morning glory bloom right up to migration time. The fourth vine, a woody perennial, is a super-hardy Zone 3 honeysuckle called ‘Dropmore.’ This honeysuckle is not invasive, and blooms beyond the call. It’s an Asian-American hybrid developed in Dropmore, Manitoba. The orange-scarlet tubular flowers bloom right up to winter. I have seen a few unfrozen blooms even in December.
Pacific Coast/California
Watching a hummingbird work its way around a Mexican sage (Salvia mexicana) in full bloom is one of the finest pleasures of summer here in California. Hummingbirds are methodical about their feasting, visiting each flower along the stalk in strict order. The deep blue-purple flowers attract them, and the nearly year-round bloom keeps them coming back for more.
A neighbor planted three Mexican sages in a group, and dozens of hummingbirds darted in and out all day. I recommend planting them together like this if you have room.
They can grow two to three feet tall and just as wide. It is best to prune them harshly at Christmas or whenever you see the first of the new growth emerging. There’s no special trick to it; just cut all of last year’s growth down to the ground. If you live very close to the coast, the plant could still be in bloom at pruning time, and you may not be able to bring yourself to cut down a wintertime or early spring food source for the hummingbirds. The plant will fare just as well if you prune selectively, leaving the choice blossoms on the plant while cutting older growth to the ground.
For a bright, colorful contrast, try California fuchsia (Fuchsia magellanica), another drought-tolerant shrub that attracts hummingbirds with its red trumpet-shaped flowers. The foliage is a light green-gray that pairs well with Mexican sage even when the plants are not in bloom. California fuchsia can get a bit leggy, so save it for hillsides and informal gardens. Like Mexican sage, it blooms well into late summer and fall, and will continue to flower in winter in the mildest climates.
Continental East
Late bloomers for hummingbirds? In the Continental East, the best bets among native and naturalized plants may be bee balm, thistle, and jewelweed, although a patch of cardinal flower would delight any hummingbird.
Bee balm (Monarda didyma) a mint whose seeds are widely available in catalogs, produces flaming red tubular flowers that hummingbirds will all but kill for. It grows on moist ground. Thistles of various species thrive on well-drained slopes, and jewelweeds, the pale and the spotted, flourish where it’s shady, low, and wet.
You could probably grow thistles or jewelweeds by turning some soil and waiting for nature to take its course, but few of us have that much patience. Better, perhaps, to wander afield in late summer, get to know the plants where they grow, and collect the seeds by hand. In the process you’ll have fun getting jewelweed pods to explode in your palm, and you’ll hobnob with goldfinches as they compete with you for thistle seed. Sow in autumn, but don’t expect to reap hummingbirds until the following summer.
Desert Southwest
Many of the plants used for attracting hummingbirds in other parts of the country are native to the western deserts and mountains, so plant choices are abundant here.
For low desert areas, hummingbird trumpet (Zauschneria californica) native to California and Arizona, bursts into bloom with red-orange trumpet-shaped flowers in late summer. This plant likes filtered sun to part- shade and dies back in cold winters.
Also try flame acanthus (Anisacanthus quadrifidus var. wrightii) a drought-tolerant Texas native that sports two-inch-long orange tubular flowers. Flame acanthus grows to three to four feet high and blooms well into autumn.
Chuparosa, native to southeastern California and southern Arizona, is the common name for Justicia californica and means hummingbird in Spanish. The slender floral red tubes of this sprawling plant contain abundant nectar and put on an impressive floral display until knocked back by the cold.
Midwest/Great Plains
Native asters, goldenrods, and blazing stars are the focal point of a late-summer garden and attract a variety of birds and butterflies. Ruby-throated hummingbirds add to their fuel reserves, gleaning protein-rich insects that feed on the nectar from late summer blooms.
Butterflies, including swallowtails, monarchs, fritillaries, and coppers unroll their long coiled probosces to suck nectar from the pink, blue, white, and yellow blossoms. If you wish to entice these visitors to your garden and add late summer color, select plants that will thrive on the soil, moisture, and light conditions typical of your planting area.
Sky blue and white asters, sweet-scented goldenrods, and rough and dotted blazing stars thrive in dry, sandy soils with full sun exposure.
If your garden soil is loamy and exposed to sun for at least five hours per day, try smooth aster, showy goldenrod, and meadow blazing star.
In heavy clay, full-sun garden soils, stick with the robust New England and frost asters, stiff goldenrod, and prairie blazing stars.
For a full-sun site that retains moisture throughout the summer, incorporate Ohio goldenrod and dense blazing star into your palette of moist meadow plants.
If your property includes a savanna or open-woodland garden, plant the shade-tolerant, large-leafed, and Short’s asters or zigzag and elm-leaved goldenrods. These plants, which are scarcely noticed in the summer, open their graceful sky blue and lemon yellow blooms as the falling oak and hickory leaves allow more sunlight to filter down to the woodland floor.
Humid South
Those of us living in the Humid South who love these aggressive, feathered helicopters--otherwise known as hummingbirds--consider ourselves particularly blessed to have the potential for hummingbirds year-round. Thus, the red tube-shaped flowers that they enjoy are a major part of our gardens.
Ruby-throated hummingbirds arrive along the Gulf Coast in spring, gorge on nectar, then disperse. In the summer they nest north of Interstate 10, and then stoke up on nectar again in the fall before they head back across the Gulf.
In addition to the rubythroats, gardeners in coastal Texas also can enjoy black-chinned and buff-bellied hummingbirds in summer. Some rubythroats winter in south Florida, which also has occasional visits from Caribbean hummingbirds.
Many gardeners believe that the rubythroat and the red buckeye have coevolved because southern gardeners often see their first rubythroats when these small trees bloom. Other spring flowers to consider for a hummingbird garden are native and Formosan azaleas, trumpet creeper, crossvine, and flowering quince. The blooms of the tulip poplar tree also are hummingbird friendly.
Salvias, including pineapple sage, are a major part of the summer menu for rubythroats. Other important nectar-producing summer bloomers are crocosmia, pentas, cypress vine, lantana, coral honeysuckle, bee balm, white and red ginger lilies, bottlebrush, coral beans, cry-baby tree, and cupheas or cigar plants. The absolute favorite at our house is the regular Turk’s cap hibiscus. In addition, we use red canna lilies and Texas star hibiscus to act as beacons to guide hummingbirds to the garden.
Many summer flowers continue through fall until the first hard frost in the Humid South. Two native fall bloomers that are mainstays for the rubythroats are jewelweed and cardinal flower. Both of these prefer the moist habitat along a stream or around the edge of a small pond. The Mexican firespike is also important in the fall garden.
Lingering rubythroats can be pushed out in the fall by the second wave--small numbers of rufous, black-chinned, Allen’s, Anna’s, buff-bellied, Calliope, broad-tailed, broad-billed, blue-throated, and magnificent hummingbirds--birds that buck the trend to migrate farther south. These birds elect to stay in the Humid South, with some sighted as far north as Virginia and North Carolina. Bob and Martha Sargent, along with regional helpers, have worked hard to document and band these hummingbirds, which sometimes remain in southern gardens from early August to late March.
For the past six years my husband and I have run a bed-and-breakfast for a female rufous hummingbird who flies in from somewhere in the Pacific Northwest, Alaska, or British Columbia. She enjoys all the late-blooming Turk’s caps and other flowers until the first hard freeze. Then she relies on gnats and nectar feeders, one of which is always in a sunny spot. She will fly over to my husband and complain if the nectar isn’t fresh enough.
I agree with Linda Beutler. I wouldn’t trade the hummingbirds for a calm English garden. Gardening wouldn’t be the same without the them buzzing, jousting, and rattling around.
Mountain West
Because Mountain West ecoregion gardeners have so many plant options to feed hummingbirds and butterflies in late summer and fall, let’s cut to the chase.
The best plants are those that both hummingbirds and butterflies prefer. For perennials this includes butterfly bush, bee balm (Monarda), sunset hyssop (Agastache rupestris), tall garden phlox, and butterfly weed. All bloom from late summer to early fall. Annuals include zinnia, petunia, and fuchsia.
The top fall hummingbird attractant in my garden is cardinal flower, hands down. Other useful late season hummingbird blooms include annuals such as four-o-clock, red salvia, and flowering tobacco (Nicotiana alata). Rose-of-Sharon is a late-summer to early-fall-blooming shrub that attracts hummingbirds. The top late season perennial vine that lures hummingbirds is trumpet vine. Annual vines include morning glory and scarlet runner bean.
Late season butterfly blooms include perennials such as asters, goldenrods, rabbitbrush, black-eyed Susan, purple coneflower, blazing star, and yarrow. Annuals include cosmos, Mexican sunflower (Tithonia), sunflower, and verbena.
This is just a partial list, and surely you have many others that work. Try other plants and keep track of their effectiveness in your garden to broaden your plant palette.
