Hummingbird question

[blondie58]

Hi all and thanks in advance for your replies.

I was so excited last year, as I had finally enticed hummingbirds to my garden in a western suburb of Denver. They come for my agastache and my red birds in a tree bush. I was so anxious for them to return this year and yes, I have seen them, well, really only one.

From my reading about them, they locate their food by site and retain that information for seasons, so I am wondering if there has been a problem with their nesting area over winter or something else like that.

Any ideas? I am so bummed that there aren't more, I was looking forward to the little territorial fights that they would get into.

[sybylla]

1. They will come eventually

In my experience it takes a year or two as more and more discover your garden.

I started out years ago feeding them and it took a while to get them to come in. In a couple of years they're were so many they were fighting over it. Now, I don't have to feed them as I have flower gardens full of plants to attract them all summer long. I have a couple of pairs that stay all summer. A few years ago, I even spotted one of their tiny nests.

The problem with growing plants that attract them is that the flowers usually only last a few weeks and then they leave. Without a feeder, they won't make a permanent summer home near yours unless they have plants that attract them year round. Attractive plants in my gardens include bee balms (that have bloomed more than a month now), penstemons, lupines, salvias/sages, sweet peas, snap dragons, false indigo, Dropmore Scarlet Honeysuckle vine (this one blooms practically all summer and they fight over it like you wouldn't believe). The plants don't have to have red flowers; any color will do.

[tigereye]

2. they also like cardinalis vine

the year I planted that and it took (it didn't other years for some reason), was the only time I have seen one in my yard...


thanks for the list of hummer friendly plants!

[AllegroRondo]

3. I have them fighting over my rose bushes

and they've only been there 2 seasons.

[sybylla]

4. You know, this is the first year I've had any hummers favoring a rose bush

My roses are all shrub roses in several varieties and in the past hummers usually have ignored them. But this year, there has been one hummer (as far as I can tell it's only been one) that has visited my John Cabot shrub rose all summer long.

I didn't list roses because of my limited success with them attracting hummingbirds. Nice to hear others have better luck.

Any chance you can share what kinds of roses you have?

[AllegroRondo]

5. Mine are all hybrid tea roses

I have a dozen of them along one fence in the back yard. Yes, Im a bit of a rose nut too.

the specific varieties (if I can remember them all...)
Marylin Monroe
Henry Fonda
Helen Hayes
Vibrant Plum
Princess Diana
Abe Lincoln
Queen Elizabeth
John F Kennedy
Sunstruck
Peace
Chris Everet

Come to think of it, they seem to favor JFK, Abe Lincoln, and Queen Elizabeth. Those are also the most fragrant I have, so that may be part of it.

[sybylla]

6. Hybrid Teas require too much TLC in my area - zone 4b

I like the easy care of hardy shrub roses. Interesting that hummers prefer your fragrant ones. My John Cabot hardly has any scent and they were all over it yet they ignored my enormous Therese Bugnet which scents up the whole yard when it's in bloom. And both have pink blooms.

[AllegroRondo]

7. they do like the pink

Queen Elizabeth is pink, and Abe Lincoln is red, so maybe there is something about the bright colors. They dont seem to bother as much with the yellows.

Im lucky enough to live in zone 5/6, so hybrid teas are OK here. We had a nasty freeze late last spring, though, that killed off 3 of them and caused the rest to lose some canes. They took a while to come back over the summer, but now they are all over the place.

[XemaSab]

8. It might be both the fragance and the bugs

Hummers like little aphids. :)

[sybylla]

9. Didn't know that

I always figured the way they eat - essentially through a straw - that bugs were a problem. On the other hand I hear that aphids are juicy little buggers that live off the nectar as well. They're small enough I can believe hummers eat them. I'll have to check my rose over for aphids next year.