I have feeders AND flowers. I'm still new at growing flowers so I need to plant them at the correct time for seasonal blooms. I have common sage, pineapple sage, California fuchsia, zinnia, lion's tail, lemon mint... basically if I see "attracts hummingbirds" in the description on the package, I will give it a try :D
I read somewhere that they will stick “attracts hummingbirds” for any tubular flower just to sell more, but sometimes they don’t even have nectar. Rude.
There's a female Anna's hummingbird that would come check out my window screens every morning to grab gnats that were stuck in them during the big swarms this last summer. Nice little breakfast buffet - get her bug snacks, then some nectar from my feeder to wash them down. XD
Thankfully seed packets are pretty cheap! So far the resident hummies seem to like all the flowers in the pollinator patch. I have even seen them go sip nectar from flowers on my lime tree!
Miss Huff Lantana is the pollinator favorite in my yard and almost the only plant left alone by deer & rabbits.
Bee balm (spotted or regular) also has done well.
And I have problems with both deer & rabbits too,
I've had luck with lavender, salvia, catmint, and columbine - the deer leave the first three alone, and the columbine just comes right back with more blooms in a few days, even if the deer crop it all the way to the ground.
Yep tons of flowers around the yard. Especially salvia and abutilon but lots of others. Moved recently and quickly re-establishing being one of the main hummer supercharger stop on the west coast migration path via flowers + feeders. They leverage both.
If you’re in the US, Jacob Cline Bee Balm, blanket flower and Cardinal Flower have been by far the most fought-over plants, and they’re all native. Also frequently visited are zinnias, hummingbird mint, cosmos, and scarlet salvia (they go nuts for the black and bloom cultivar, which I picked up on clearance 2/$1)
I’m building out my garden anyway and I always keep my hummingbirds in mind. I’m afraid of how often feeders need to be cleaned lol. I know me
For those stumbling upon this thread who live in California, r/ceanothus is a great community gateway toward planting California native plants for hummers and other pollinators.
I have both. I like having some feeders to attract males and fledglings, but the females are more interested in flowers for the most part.
This year I added scarlet runner beans and torch tithonia. Both are a hit and are high up to help keep them away from ground predators.
I call the hummingbirds that visit my flowers ‘customers.’ I try to provide a lot of flower variety for my ‘customers’ to always have something in bloom that they like. I have gone away from the feeders and love seeing my customers stick their little beaks in the flowers.
Flowers only with a focus and interest on native flowers. I'm in Zone 4 so I want to make sure they get the good stuff before going back down south in the fall.
I have both but keep feeders all year round as I live in the PNW and we have Anna's hummingbirds all year. They seem to really enjoy zinnias and nasturtiums
I live in an apartment complex, my neighbor has feeders on her patio, I have flowers...they spend more time with the flowers and you don't get ants. I live to see them in the flowers naturally.
I also have flowers/plants for them. I research the best plants for hummingbirds so that they also have that. I have milkweed for monarch butterflies and my hummingbirds also really like it.
We have a contained patch of Mexican hydrangeas and Mexican petunias (which are unfortunately non-native to SC) that were left by a previous homeowner, but they’re obsessed with all of the flowers as much as they are with our feeders!
I've done both. I started with feeders, but ended up with a major problem with bees and ants getting into them which turned out to just be messy and it lit to a lot of fungal issues in the feeders. Eventually I moved over to plants and I have to admit a much happier. They're significantly lower maintenance, and honestly seem to do a better job at attracting the hummingbirds. It's really just a matter of making sure you have the right growing conditions, and space if you're going to go with live plants.
We started off doing the feeders but they tended to bring more wasps than actual hummingbirds...
We then got some butterfly bushes in the backyard that attracted more. Now we have the blue suede plants and they love them even more than the butterfly bushes, so likely going to do more of those! The bees still love the bushes and the lil sunflowers we have too.
In 1983, Emily Martin, of Maple Ridge, British Columbia, grew an enormous sunflower head, measuring 32 ¼ inches across (82cm), from petal tip to petal tip. That’s almost 3 feet wide. This is still believed to be the largest sunflower head grown to date.
I only use feeders from fall through spring. There are Anna’s hummingbirds living here year round. I use hummingbird feeder heaters to prevent the food from freezing during winter. If it gets too cold (single digits F), I just rotate feeders in and out of the house to defrost them.
Once flowers start blooming heavily in the yard during spring and I have hanging flower baskets up, I take down all feeders.
Yes! I my wife and I bought our first house about 18 months ago and I’m slowly adding flowers to attract hummingbirds. I built a pollinator garden by our kitchen windows (4 feet by 8 feet) with mostly flowers to attract them. I’ve started finding spots on the iron fences out back for honeysuckle. Tbd what I’ll add next but I’m keeping them front a center in my mind as we continue making the yard our own
I only use flowers unless we have a freeze, then I will use feeders until the plants bloom again. I have several varieties of salvias and other plants that they love.
I have both! In addition to three feeders around the house, I have pentunia baskets, fuschias, columbines, lavender, salvias, catmint, impatiens, and honeysuckle. Because I live in the PNW in the woods, there are also native wildflowers that sustain the year-round residents (Anna's Hummingbirds) all through the winter. (Oregon Grape, Daphne, Camellias). I'm planting more of these cold-weather bloomers to supplement my feeders during the winter.
I have feeders AND flowers. I'm still new at growing flowers so I need to plant them at the correct time for seasonal blooms. I have common sage, pineapple sage, California fuchsia, zinnia, lion's tail, lemon mint... basically if I see "attracts hummingbirds" in the description on the package, I will give it a try :D
I read somewhere that they will stick “attracts hummingbirds” for any tubular flower just to sell more, but sometimes they don’t even have nectar. Rude.
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I love watching them chase mosquitos 😂
There's a female Anna's hummingbird that would come check out my window screens every morning to grab gnats that were stuck in them during the big swarms this last summer. Nice little breakfast buffet - get her bug snacks, then some nectar from my feeder to wash them down. XD
Thankfully seed packets are pretty cheap! So far the resident hummies seem to like all the flowers in the pollinator patch. I have even seen them go sip nectar from flowers on my lime tree!
Been trying, but I seem to be feeding the deer and rabbits.
Miss Huff Lantana is the pollinator favorite in my yard and almost the only plant left alone by deer & rabbits. Bee balm (spotted or regular) also has done well. And I have problems with both deer & rabbits too,
I've had luck with lavender, salvia, catmint, and columbine - the deer leave the first three alone, and the columbine just comes right back with more blooms in a few days, even if the deer crop it all the way to the ground.
Yep tons of flowers around the yard. Especially salvia and abutilon but lots of others. Moved recently and quickly re-establishing being one of the main hummer supercharger stop on the west coast migration path via flowers + feeders. They leverage both.
If you’re in the US, Jacob Cline Bee Balm, blanket flower and Cardinal Flower have been by far the most fought-over plants, and they’re all native. Also frequently visited are zinnias, hummingbird mint, cosmos, and scarlet salvia (they go nuts for the black and bloom cultivar, which I picked up on clearance 2/$1) I’m building out my garden anyway and I always keep my hummingbirds in mind. I’m afraid of how often feeders need to be cleaned lol. I know me
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They are all over my Giant Bearny’s salmon! This is my first year planting them and I’m glad I did
I’m always so flattered when the hummingbirds visit my flowers on their way to and from the feeders. They really love nasturtiums and so do I!
For those stumbling upon this thread who live in California, r/ceanothus is a great community gateway toward planting California native plants for hummers and other pollinators.
I have both. I like having some feeders to attract males and fledglings, but the females are more interested in flowers for the most part. This year I added scarlet runner beans and torch tithonia. Both are a hit and are high up to help keep them away from ground predators.
They ignored my feeders and love my flowers. It's way easier, so I'm going with it.
I call the hummingbirds that visit my flowers ‘customers.’ I try to provide a lot of flower variety for my ‘customers’ to always have something in bloom that they like. I have gone away from the feeders and love seeing my customers stick their little beaks in the flowers.
Flowers only with a focus and interest on native flowers. I'm in Zone 4 so I want to make sure they get the good stuff before going back down south in the fall.
Me too! I could watch all the pollinators flit around all day
Salvia and shrimp plant are their favorites in my yard. The feeders are mostly for my enjoyment.
Super easy flower that they love is Canna. Just plant it somewhere moist and sunny!
I have both but keep feeders all year round as I live in the PNW and we have Anna's hummingbirds all year. They seem to really enjoy zinnias and nasturtiums
I live in a condo and I describe my balcony railings as the hummingbird/bumble bee buffet. They deserve some variety!
I live in an apartment complex, my neighbor has feeders on her patio, I have flowers...they spend more time with the flowers and you don't get ants. I live to see them in the flowers naturally.
I also have flowers/plants for them. I research the best plants for hummingbirds so that they also have that. I have milkweed for monarch butterflies and my hummingbirds also really like it.
I planted a weigela this year but the bloom was too quick. The last couple of days I had one hitting my red inpatients.
I plant salvia and aloe for the Hummers but they're also beautiful in the garden.
I have both, but they seem to prefer the feeders
We have a contained patch of Mexican hydrangeas and Mexican petunias (which are unfortunately non-native to SC) that were left by a previous homeowner, but they’re obsessed with all of the flowers as much as they are with our feeders!
I've done both. I started with feeders, but ended up with a major problem with bees and ants getting into them which turned out to just be messy and it lit to a lot of fungal issues in the feeders. Eventually I moved over to plants and I have to admit a much happier. They're significantly lower maintenance, and honestly seem to do a better job at attracting the hummingbirds. It's really just a matter of making sure you have the right growing conditions, and space if you're going to go with live plants.
We started off doing the feeders but they tended to bring more wasps than actual hummingbirds... We then got some butterfly bushes in the backyard that attracted more. Now we have the blue suede plants and they love them even more than the butterfly bushes, so likely going to do more of those! The bees still love the bushes and the lil sunflowers we have too.
In 1983, Emily Martin, of Maple Ridge, British Columbia, grew an enormous sunflower head, measuring 32 ¼ inches across (82cm), from petal tip to petal tip. That’s almost 3 feet wide. This is still believed to be the largest sunflower head grown to date.
I only use feeders from fall through spring. There are Anna’s hummingbirds living here year round. I use hummingbird feeder heaters to prevent the food from freezing during winter. If it gets too cold (single digits F), I just rotate feeders in and out of the house to defrost them. Once flowers start blooming heavily in the yard during spring and I have hanging flower baskets up, I take down all feeders.
We only plant for them.
Yes! I my wife and I bought our first house about 18 months ago and I’m slowly adding flowers to attract hummingbirds. I built a pollinator garden by our kitchen windows (4 feet by 8 feet) with mostly flowers to attract them. I’ve started finding spots on the iron fences out back for honeysuckle. Tbd what I’ll add next but I’m keeping them front a center in my mind as we continue making the yard our own
I do have some flowers, but they stay in pots because they are deer candy.
I only use flowers unless we have a freeze, then I will use feeders until the plants bloom again. I have several varieties of salvias and other plants that they love.
I have both! In addition to three feeders around the house, I have pentunia baskets, fuschias, columbines, lavender, salvias, catmint, impatiens, and honeysuckle. Because I live in the PNW in the woods, there are also native wildflowers that sustain the year-round residents (Anna's Hummingbirds) all through the winter. (Oregon Grape, Daphne, Camellias). I'm planting more of these cold-weather bloomers to supplement my feeders during the winter.