Western Columbine

Columbines (Aguilegia spp) are a great plant to grow for their intricately shaped flowers, good color ranges, frilly fern like leaves, and some have a long bloom period.  They are perennial and will reseed easily.  Columbines rely on hummingbirds to pollinate them so there is a good symbiotic relationship.

The nectar is secreted in the long tube of the flower and collects in a bulge at the base, making it the ideal source for humming birds.  Plant them en masse for extra effect along walk ways and patios.

You can find them in seed catalogs and as plants at high quality nurseries in the early spring.  I like to get starts and seeds from friends.

There are seed catalogs that focus on native plants which contribute to their hardiness and accessibility by hummers.   Four to experiment with are:

1. Aquilegia Canadensis, Canada or wild red columbine.  Native from Manitoba and Saskatchewan to Ontario and
   

   Canada Columbine

   Quebec south through much of the eastern United States.  The flowers are red and lemon yellow in midspring to midsummer.  Plants grow two feet tall and one foot wide.  Wild red columbine is also a larval food plant for the columbine dusky wing butterfly.

2. 

   Rocky Mtn Cloumbine

   Aquilegia carulea, Rocky Mountain columbine. Erect blooms are bicolor in lovely shades of blue and white.  Plants grow 1 to 2 feet tall and bloom from June to August.  This is the state flower for Colorado and includes the mountains of southwestern Montana and central Idaho to northern New Mexico and Arizona.

3. Aguilegia chrysantha or golden or yellow columbine. The horizontal-facing canary
   

   Yellow Columbine

   yellow flowers look like little rockets.   They have a long bloom from April to September making them especially appealing.  Plants grow 2 to 3 feet tall with a nearly equal spread.  They grow in mountain canyon seeps in the Sonoran and Chihuahuan desert regions, and are found from west Texas, southern New Mexico, southern Utah, and Arizona and Mexico.

4. 

   Western Columbine

   4. Aquilegia Formosa, western columbine.  Formosa means beautiful.  It reaches 1 ½ feet tall and bears dangling yellow and red blooms in late spring through early summer.  The spurs are only about ½ to ¾ inch long and point upright, making them ideal for hungry hummers.  They are found in meadows and damp areas of western mountains, the Pacific Northwest, and Alaska.

5. Aquilegia longissima, Long Spur Columbine, relies on the sphinx moths with their
   

   Long Spur Columbine

   extra long proboscises to effect pollination; hummer tongues are too short for them to successfully feed on this plant.  This species has particularly large flowers with spurs that are 4 to 6 inches long which makes them inaccessible to hummers.   They are native from west Texas to southern Arizona and northeastern Mexico.

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Dr JB's Easy Clean Feeder

This is a great time to get out your hummingbird feeder and to get ready for their return. Be sure to check out our new Dr. JB’s Easy Cleaning Feeder, the best hummingbird feeder ever made! Solid and durable construction and easy to fill and clean.

Fliteline Jelly Feeder

Colorful Orioles begin arriving in April, so plan to get your out then. We have a great new product, BirdBerry   Jelly, that you can use in our Songbird Essentials Fliteline Jelly Jam Feeder. Over the counter jelly is very high in sugar content, so the lower sugar and higher fruit content of BirdBerry Jelly more closely matches their natural food sources. The unique grape/blackberry flavor keeps Orioles and other birds (like Catbirds and Woodpeckers) coming back for more.

BirdBerry Jelly

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Click Here or Anywhere on photo to order your Jewel Box Window Hummingbird Feeder.

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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

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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!

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In the United States, you can find over 16 kinds of Hummingbirds. For people east of the Rockies, the most prevalent by far is the Ruby-Throated Hummingbird. In fact the Ruby-Throated Hummingbird is the most widely distributed of the worlds’ 338 species of Hummingbirds, all of which occur ONLY in the Western Hemisphere.

The Ruby-throated Hummingbird is often found between woodland and meadow. However, it has adapted well to human development, but only if there is shelter, space and food. Thus, it is frequently seen in suburban backyards with mature trees and shrubs, in wooded parks, and around farmsteads.

The Keys to Attracting Hummingbirds are to provide Food, Help for Nesting, and Misters (Water) for them to fly through. Offer lots of feeders protected from ants and keep your feeders clean. Hummingbirds will not feed at a dirty feeder.

Visit our website and view our selection of Hummingbird Feeders.

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