Question: Are any of the plants on your hummingbird attracting list
poisonous or unfriendly to spaces occupied by children?
In My Garden Blog
Southwestern Deserts
June 18, 2009
By
Cathy Cromell,
Phoenix, AZ
The color and shape of Penstemon eatonii blossoms invite this hummingbird to dinner.
Surefire Hummingbird Gardens
There's nothing mysterious or difficult about attracting hummingbirds. It is one of the easiest and most rewarding gardening endeavors. Simply provide the flowers they prefer and these tiny flying gems will visit soon and often. Even a handful of well-chosen plants will guide them to your landscape.
Plant Selection Tips
-- Hummingbirds' long bills are adapted to insert into long, narrow, tubular, or trumpet-shaped flowers. They are particularly drawn to red (which is why so many commercial feeders are red), but also reliably visit orange, yellow, and pink blossoms.
-- Choose plants native or well-adapted to your region. The birds recognize them, and these plants are typically easier to grow and maintain.
-- Add a variety of plants that bloom at different seasons to offer a year around source of nectar. Make a list of when your current plants flower, then add from the list below to fill in any gaps. Low desert gardeners probably want to plan their additions and wait until fall to transplant. Higher elevation gardeners can plant successfully during the monsoon season.
Hummingbird Plant Choices for Year Around Blooms
The following low-water-use plants are well-adapted to many regions in the Southwest and offer extended bloom times.
(Plant common name: bloom season Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter)
Aloe: Sp, W
Red eremophila: Sp, W
Chuparosa: Sp, F, W
Penstemon: Sp
Flame honeysuckle: S, F
Hummingbird trumpet: S, F
Desert willow: Sp, S, F
Red yucca: Sp, S, F
Orange bells: Sp, S, F, W
Baja red fairy duster: Sp, S, F, W
Nest Building
Some hummingbirds build nests in the strangest places, at least to human eyes. I've never enjoyed one in my yard, but a number of gardeners over the years have been proud to show me their resident hummingbird nest, which more often than not is parked precariously in a hanging basket on the patio, or atop a light fixture on the wall or some similar odd choice. According to their human observers, the offspring do fine, so the parents must know their business!
You can help with web construction by ignoring exterior clean-up chores, at least a bit. Hummingbirds use sticky spider webbing to construct their nests. Leave some spider webs hanging in the upper corners of your windows and patio doors. Hummers will fly by to harvest it, and you can observe them from indoors as they hover and dart, collecting the material.
Finally, don't use pesticides. Insects are an important food source for hummers. Not only do pesticides limit their food choices, but the toxic chemical itself can harm these tiny birds. If you fear a pest invasion, realize that Mother Nature strikes a pretty amazing balance between predators and prey. If your yard has been maintained with pesticides for many years, it may take a year or so to achieve balance, but it will happen!
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Comments on Surefire Hummingbird Gardens
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We welcome your questions and comments about this column. If you have gardening questions unrelated to the column, please ask them on our message boards.
.w. Watts
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Cathy Cromell
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I bet your child(ren) would love a hummingbird garden! These plants
are not poisonous. However, there is always a chance that some plant
may cause some reaction in some people if they are susceptible, such
as a skin dermatitis or if they ingested the entire plant. So, like
all activities with children, we need to keep an eye on them! The
red yucca has sharp leaf points. Some aloe also have sharp points or
leaf edges, others are quite smooth.
Kathy Crange
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For years we had a hummingbird nest under our front portico. We had
a wind chime made of metal. It was a cutout of a road runner so you
can figure how thin that was. The hummers built their nest on top of
it, made of mud, straw etc. and had several crops of babies over the
years. Then one summer, barn swallows moved in and chased them out
to our dismay!
Cathy Cromell
Thanks for sharing. It must have been fun to watch your hummers'
balancing act over the years. I have hummers visiting some late
blooming aloe right now, but I haven't spotted where they are
nesting.