Hummingbirds are zipping and humming and sipping around our gardens, partaking of the summer’s bounty of nectar-rich flowers, many of which are ‘color-coded’ specifically to attract them. And you’ll want hummers in your garden, not only because they’re beautiful, not only because some plants depend on them for pollination, not only because migratory birds are imperiled, but also because they eat prodigious numbers of small flying insects like mosquitoes! And did you know, some hummingbird have been known to live up to 25 years!
Here are some of the plants we sell that attract and support these flying jewels. (Bold denotes in-stock plants.)
Agastache (Hummingbird Mint, Hyssop): aurantiaca ‘Coronado’, aur. ‘Apricot Sprite’, aur. ‘Coronado Red, barberi ‘Tutti Frutti’, cana, cana ‘Sonoran Sunset’, foeniculum, foen. ‘Blue Fortune’, ‘Black Adder’, rupestris, pallidiflora
Agave sp. – Hardy Century Plant
Castilleja integra
Buddleia davidii selections – Butterfly Bush
Castilleja integra – Indian Paintbrush
Campsis radicans – Trumpet Vine
Chilopsis linearis – Desert Willow
Cleome serrulata – Rocky Mt. Bee Plant
Echinocereus triglochidiatus – Claret Cup Cactus
Fuchsia
Hesperaloe parviflora – Texas Red Yucca
Claret Cup Cactus
Ipomopsis/Gilia rubra – Scarlet Gilia
Ipomopsis aggregata – Standing Cypress
Lonicera ‘Dropmore Scarlet’ – Dropmore Scarlet Honeysuckle
Lonicera heckrottii ‘Goldflame’ – Goldflame Honeysuckle
Lonicera japonica ‘Kansas Purple’ – Kansas Purple Honeysuckle
Lonicera sempervirens ‘Major Wheeler’ – Major Wheeler Honeysuckle
Lychnis coronaria – Maltese Cross
Mina lobata – Spanish Flag Vine
Monarda: many species and cultivars
Ipomopsis rubra
Monardella macrantha ‘Marian Sampson’
Nepeta sibirica ‘Blue Beauty’ – Siberian Catmint
Penstemon barbatus coccineus – Scarlet Bugler
Penstemon barbatus ‘Rondo’
Penstemon comarrhenus
Penstemon cardinalis – Cardinal Beardtongue
Penstemon glaber
Penstemon ‘Electric Blue’
Penstemon grifinnii
Penstemon glaber
Penstemon x mex. ‘Red Rocks’
Penstemon pinifolius – Pineleaf Penstemon
Penstemon pinifolius ‘Mersea Yellow’
Penstemon pseudospectabilis – Desert Penstemon
Penstemon rostriflorus – Bridges’ Penstemon
Penstemon smallii
Penstemon strictus – Rocky Mt. Penstemon
Penstemon superbus – Superb Penstemon
Penstemon secundiflorus
Penstemon virgatus – Wand-bloom Penstemon
Petunia exserta – Brazilian Red Petunia
Salvia x microphylla ‘Windwalker’
Salvia coccinea – Annual Mexican Red Sage
Salvia darcyi – Mexican Red Salvia
Salvia greggii ‘Furman’s Red’
Salvia pachyphylla – Mojave Sage
Scarlet Runner Bean (seeds)
Scrophularia macrantha ‘Marion Sampson’
Scutellaria suffrutescens – Cherry Skullcap
Scrophularia macrantha – Red Birds in a Tree
Zauschneria garrettii ‘Orange Carpet’ – Orange Hummingbird Trumpets
Zauschneria arizonica – Arizona Hummingbird Trumpet
Zauschneria latifolia ‘Etteri’ – Etter’s California Fuchsia
Our friend Bob Fiehweg provided this excellent guide to the hummingbirds we are seeing in the Boulder area:
“We have three species most likely to be seen in and around Boulder – Broad-tailed, Rufous and Calliope, with occasional appearances by a few others.
Broad-tailed hummingbirds are the most common, and most obvious…the males make a very audible buzzing sound when they fly around. They look a lot like the Ruby-throated hummer, most common in the eastern U.S. They breed at higher elevations and descend this time of year to feed along the front range until early fall when they go south.
Rufous hummingbirds are spectacular – males are copper colored front and back, so you can’t miss ’em. Females are subdued (unlike the females of H. sapiens), but still discernible from other female hummers.
Unlike the hummers above, Calliopes don’t have a bright red throat, but rather a gorget of streaking reddish to wine colored feathers. They are sometimes confused with young broad-tails who are just developing color in their throat patch, so it comes in with a streak pattern similar to Calliopes. These guys are smaller than the other two, so that’s an additional clue to the ID.”
Broad-tailed Hummingbird
Rufous Hummingbird
Calliope Hummingbird. Photo credit: Audubon Society