Red Hot Poker

Another Flower to Attract Hummingbirds and the admiration of your friends and neighbors! The common name is Red Hot Poker. I suggest  Flamenco or Kniphofia uvaria. It blooms over a longer time period and has more blooms in total.    Hummers love their three foot flower spikes.  The flower spikes are a red-orange with a mellow yellow at the base.  The strap-shaped foliage adds a nice contrast to other plants.  The plant can be two feet high and three feet wide.  Plant it in full sun with good drainage.  This plant is both heat and drought tolerant once established, a truly care free plant!   Hardy in Zones 5 to 9.

Click here to see vido on how to grow Red Hot Poker Plants video_4992906_grow-redhot-poker-kniphofia-uvaria.html

Fountain Plant

The Fountain  Plant or Russelia equsetiformis is the one!   It is also commonly called the Firecracker plant also. Its brilliant red flowers appear on 12-inch long sprays throughout the warm season.  The blooms are 3/4 “to 1” in length and are narrowly tubular, making them ideally suited for the long, slender bills of hummingbirds.

Other common names for this plant are coral fountain, firecracker plant, rain of fire, and coral blow.  With its cascading fronds and red blooms planted in a tall slender red pot, it will be a great focus plant!  I love containers as you can vary the forms and colors you select and they can be moved to show them off when in full bloom, then retired to less prominent

Flowers of Fountain Plant

locations when not at their peak of glory.

The Fountain Plant can reach 3 to 6 feet high and 4 feet wide.  If that is a bit large for you, just limit the width of the container but keep good height to the container as the branches take root easily and may  have a tendency to be invasive.  Or, to simplify, just plant it in a hanging pot!

Hummingbirds are extremely loyal to feeding sites. A hummingbird that feeds in your yard one year will return to that feeder the next year. If you aren’t attracting as many hummers as you want read on! As the male Ruby-Throated Hummingbird is so territorial, one key is to offer lots of hummingbird feeders.

Remember two Golden Rules: Keep your hummingbird feeder clean and the hummingbird nectar fresh. Hummingbirds keep their distance from fermented nectar. They will not eat from a dirty feeder, especially one that has mold on it!

Perhaps hummers understand the need for a clear head for their acrobatic flying. Fermented nectar can support the growth of deadly molds. If a hummingbird gets a taste of fermented nectar from your feeder, it will look elsewhere for a drink and remain suspicious of the offending feeder for a long time.

Frequently asked questions from those who have Hummingbird feeders:

Q. How can I keep bees and wasps away from my Hummingbird feeders?

A .Use a Flat Top Hummingbird Feeder (The best one is Droll Yankee Aspects Feeder). When the Hummingbird Nectar is not at the feeding port, Hummers can reach the nectar-Wasps and Bees cannot!

Q. How can I keep ants out of my feeder?

 A. Buy a new feeder with “Nectar Guard Tips” or hang a Nectar Protector Ant Moat above your feeder and fill it with water (ant’s can’t swim!). The hummingbird feeder will be easy to fill and clean- yet no ants and lots of hummers in your backyard!

Hummingbirds beat their wings about 78 times per second. During a display dive, their wings can beat up to 200 times per second.

They take about 250 breaths per minute

Their hearts beat about 1,260 times per minute

They have 1,500 feathers

They consume half their body weight (1/8 lb)in food every day. That would be like an average kids eating about 40 to 50 pounds of food a day.

During migration, they must fly 500 miles nonstop over the Gulf of Mexico to reach their wintering grounds in Mexico and Central America. The make the trip, they must eat enough so they weigh 1 1/2 times their usual weight.

They can fly at speeds of 60 miles per hour and can fly forwards, backwards, up, down, sideways and even upside down briefly, but they can not walk.

Average life span is 3-5 Years-Maximum 12 Years.

Check out our website for Hummingbird feeders to attract these wonderful birds to your backyard.