Summertime is hummer time! Flowers are blooming and hummingbirds are zipping and sipping.  Drinking nectar, and consuming a few insects while they are at it.

Hummingbirds are Delightful to Watch

So many folks love to watch hummingbirds at feeders around their homes. One of my first ever YouTube videos was of hummingbird visiting Mexican honeysuckle – and it got over a thousand views. Okay so it didn’t go viral – but 1000 views is a lot for a first video!

Hummingbird watchers are not just in the Southwest. Across North America, people wait for the day that hummingbirds migrate back to the regions covered by snow in winter. They track the progress on a map and have hotlines to contact with sightings.

What Hummingbirds Need

If you want to attract hummingbirds to your yard – be it Southwest or Northeast, you need to start by considering what all life on Earth needs. It’s simple really.  Every living thing needs food, water, and a place to live.

Shelter

To have a place where hummingbirds come back to year after year,* you will need to provide shelter. Shelter includes a nice shady spot to nest and raise their young. A place to get in out of the rain. Or sometimes shelter from intense wind. A place safe from predators so they sleep all night.

Citrus trees are one favorite nesting and resting place. If you have palms and you leave the brown fronds to droop along the trunk – the hummingbirds will thank you. This is one more reason to take care of your palms correctly. More on Palm Care.

* I do mean year after year. A study done a while back at the Rocky Mountain Research Station discovered that the hummingbirds that survived their first year tended to live to between 11 and 15 years.

Water

Yes, hummingbirds do sip liquid all day long – but that does not mean that water is not necessary. Water to drink, but also water to bathe in. Hummingbirds can often be seen basking in a fountain – bathing and sipping on a sunny day.

I have a number of YouTube videos about water in the desert. Because – a gently bubbling fountain is appreciated by hummers – and by humans too!

Food Plants

A sugar water feeder is fine, but, like humans, hummingbirds need a well-rounded diet. They can not live on simple carbohydrates alone. Hummingbirds also need protein and fats. They get these components of their diet from insects. Mind you they don’t need many insects, but they do need some.

Sugar water alone also does not provide essential minerals – like calcium for strong egg shells, and good bones in their babies. Some magnesium for good muscle energy. They need all the same minerals humans need – and these minerals are available in flower nectar.

Flowers Provide

Flower nectar is sugary sweet – but it has many trace minerals that nourish hummingbirds and other pollinators. Different species of flowers will offer different minerals – they are trying to attract the pollinators! (This is why I recommend nurturing your plants with an organic fertilizer – to help get them the trace minerals they need to attract pollinators.)

But it’s more than just minerals. If you look carefully in many flowers, you will spot tiny flower thrips – a great protein snack for hummers. Many other tiny gnats and the like inhabit your garden, most of whom you will never notice. But the hummers will!

Not just flowers – every so often my compost heap will have a cloud of tiny fungus gnats hovering over it. Then the hummingbirds appear and will swoop through the gnat cloud – catching dinner on the wing.

Plan for Swaths of Flowers

One or two plants are not enough for hungry hummers. You will need a plethora of plats! A visit to a local plant nursery (not a big box store) will offer any number of region specific hummingbird attracting plants. Here’s my post on using local nurseries.

BUT! Don’t simply get one of each kind of plant either! Your yard will turn into an unattractive hodge-podge of plants. Plus humming birds need many flowers to sip from when they swoop in for a visit.

Better for your overall design, and for the hummingbirds ease of use, is to create a swath of color. Maybe a swath of colorful “hummingbird trumpet.” I put hummingbird trumpet in italics because there are about forty-eleven plants with that name.

Plan for Layers

Your swath of color should have layers to it. Lower perennial plants in front, taller shrubs in back. Groundcover plants at their feet, filling in. Yes, hungry hummers will visit groundcovers – I have seen them hover within inches of the ground to sip nectar.

Flowers All Year

The hardest thing to plan is for the seasonality of flowers in your landscape. No plant will bloom all year. Thus you need to plan your planting to have successive waves of color. Perhaps add some of the true aloe – with yellow flowers – they bloom in January, and hummingbirds adore them. Also consider a wildflower garden full of penstemons – they bloom in March and April. (How to Grow Wildflowers)

Have an HOA?

You can have hummingbird plants – even in your front yard. Plants like the low-water Baja fairy duster and hesperaloe are on most HOA’s okay list. If you like to cook then consider rosemary – the hummers visit it in my yard. Small yard? Consider a vine that can climb a trellised wall and offer hummingbird flowers.

Give Me Names of Plants!

Would that I could!  I wish it was that easy.  The list is of hummingbird plants for the Southwest is extensive.  I am working on it. Problem is that there are different plants for all the different regions of the Southwest. Phoenix and Palm Desert can (and should) have different plants than Las Vegas or El Paso, which are different than those for Bisbee, or Reno.  Not to mention Dallas or Shiprock.  (yes, the analytics tell me I have readers in all those places.)  Feel free to leave a comment (way down below) and tell me where you live.  It will help me craft these articles better.

I feel I should caution you that – on the web – most “Hummingbird Plants” information you find will tout plants that do NOT grow well in the Southwest.  For your distinct region it’s best to visit small local nurseries (generally not chain nurseries with celestial names).  Look for workers wearing name tags with “(insert your state name here) Certified Nursery Worker.”  These people should be able to help you get appropriate plants.  More on why Local Nurseries.

So why did I even mention hummingbirds?  I did want to put it into your mind – for the planning part.

Need More Ideas?

Sign up for my free Substack newsletter. Depending on your browser, there’s a link at the side (desktop) or bottom (tablet or phone) of every post.  On my Substack I offer plant profiles from time to time, including profiles about hummingbird plants.

More Hummingbird Tips

More about planning your landscape and growing plants for hummingbirds in this book.  The Month By Month Guide offers tips for your landscape (yes even lawns and roses) in every month of the year.  I have a few copies left and am offering them to you – my loyal readers. When you buy from me you get a signed copy!

From the review:

“A great reference book is key to successful gardening in the region where you live. Arizona, Nevada & New Mexico Month-by-Month Gardening takes the guesswork out of gardening for anyone residing in the Southwest. With this book, you’ll know what to do each month to enjoy a thriving garden all year, from January to December. Chronologically organized, this guide is full of critical gardening when-to and how-to advice, along with illustrated step-by-step instructions.

The book’s author is Jacqueline Soule, a Tucson-based gardening expert. She knows this arid region inside and out, and she’s written several articles and books packed with her gardening advice. Arizona, Nevada & New Mexico Month-by-Month Gardening showcases Soule’s expertise in one easy-to-read guide.”

Profits from the sale of this book go to the Horticulture Therapy non-profit Tierra del Sol Institute.  

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