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 Hummingbirds like
bright-colored flowers with lots of nectar.
Different plants work best in different regions.
Southeast | Southwest
| West Coast | Northeast | Midwest
What is a Hummingbird Flower?

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Southeastern
United States:
Good Plants for a Hummingbird Garden
- Texas Sage (Salvia
coccinea)
- Anise Sage (Salvia
guaranitica)
- Pineapple Sage (Salvia elegans)
Blooms in winter.
- Ugly Shrimp Plant (Justicia brandegeana)
This is the winter blooming shrimp plant.
- Mexican cigar plant (Cuphea ignea, C. micropetala, C. David)
- Giant Turk's Cap (Malvaviscus arboreus var. mexicanus)
- Abutilon (A.
pictum)
This is the original flowering maple (not a hybrid);
flowers are pale orange bells with red veins.
- Cardinal Flower (Lobelia cardinalis)
- Butterfly Bush (Buddleia alternifolia)
- Firebush (Hamelia
patens)
- Native Trumpet Creeper (Campsis radicans)
- Cypress Vine (Ipomoea quamoclit)
- Orange Justicia (Justicia spicigera)
- Bourardia (Buourvardia
ternifolia)
- Pagodia Plant (Clerodendrum speciosissimum)
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The Southwest : Some
Good Hummingbird Plants
- Penstemon
- Columbine
- Delphinium
- Autumn Sage
- Four o'clock (Mirabilis jalapa)
- Shrimp plant (Justica brandegeana)
- Western coral bean (Erythrina flabelliformis)
- Mexican honeysuckle (Justicia spicigera)
- Scarlet monkey flower (Mimulus spp.)
- Texas sage (Salvia coccinea)
- Chuparosa
- Ocotillo
- Tree Tobacco (Nicotiana
glauca)
- Baja fairy (Calliandra
californica)
- Bottlebrush
- Cape honeysuckle (not hardy
about 3000 feet)
- Desert willow
- Indian paintbrush (Castilleja
spp.)
- Scarlet gilia (Ipomopsis
aggregata)
- Lantana
- Agave
- Lily of the Nile (Agapanthus) - a personal favorite
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The West Coast:
Recommended Plants for Hummingbirds
- Red flowering currant (Rives
speciosum
- Grevillea "Robyn Gordon"
(Grevillea canberra, Grevillea sericea
- Justicia incana
- Salvia
(Salvia gracilistyla, Salvia guarantica, Salvia leucantha)
- Cardinal Climber
(Quamoclit sloteri)
- Zauschneria (upright growth
varieties)
- Alstroemeria pulchella
- Ribes (Ribes speciosum, Ribes
sanguineum, Ribes glutinosum)
- Wolly Blue Curls
(Trichostemma lanatum)
- Woodland Orchid
(Impatiens glandulifera)
- Tree Mallow
(Lavatera assurgentiflora)
- Shrimp Plant
(Beloperone guttata
- Tree Tobacco
(Nicotiana glauca)
- Flowering Maple
(Abutilon)
- Penstemon
(western species)
- Eucalyptus
(many species)
- Iochroma cyaneum
- Monarda didyma
- Bottle Brush
(Callistemon)
- Erica (Erica speciosa, Erica
mammosa)
- Lonicera ( Lonicera heckrotti,
Lonicera sempervirens
- Malvaiscus
- Cuphea (Cuphea micropetala, Cuphea
ignea)
- Salmonberry (Rubus
spectabilis)
- Fuchsia (Fuchsia
magellanica)
- Cape fuchsia
(Phygelius capensis)
- California fuchsia (Zauschneria
spp.)
- Honeysuckle
- Cardinal flower (Lobelia
cardinalis)
- Columbine (Aquilegia
spp.)
- Red-hot-poker (Kniphofia
uvaria)
- Beebalm (Monarda
sp.)
For Fall and Winter (If you have Anna's
Hummingbird) try these:
- Witch hazel
- Hardy fuchsia
- Bottlebrush
- Vestia
- Camellia (Camellia
sasanqua)
- Viburnum
- Strawberry tree (Arbitus
unedo)
- Winter Jasmine (Jasminum
nudiflorum)
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Hummingbird Plants for
Northeastern Regions of the United States
- Cardinal flower (Lobelia
cardinalis)
- Bee Balm
- Salvia (Salvia spp.)
- Foxglove
- Impatiens
- Red morning glory (Ipomoea spp.)
- Trumpet creeper
- Lilac
- Forsythia
- Hollyhock (Alcea rosea)
- Jewelweed
- Buddleia
- Blue lobelia (Lobelia
siphilitica)
- Scarlet Sage (Salvia splendens)

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Hummingbird Flowers for
the Midwest
- Coral honeysuckle
- Bee balm
- Coral bells
- Cardinal flower
- Ohio buckeye
- Red-hot-poker
- Impatiens
- Delphinium
- Foxglove
- Hosta
- Browallia
- Fuchsia
- Phlox
- Lilac
- Trumpet Honeysuckle

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What is a Hummingbird Flower?
There is a strong interdependence
between hummingbirds and certain flowers. The hummingbird needs nectar and these flowers
need to be pollinated. While some flowers are structured so as to accommodate bees
or butterflies, other flowers are structured to accommodate hummingbirds. At least
150 North American flowering plants seem to be specialized to attract hummingbirds.
The hummingbird's bill fits neatly into the long, tube-shaped flowers of these
plants. The tongue laps up nectar at the lowest place in the tube. As the
hummingbird takes in nectar, its forehead rubs against the stamens and pistils.
Hummingbird plants are not attractive to bees. Hummingbird flowers
usually have no platform on which to land. Often they are red--a color bees have
difficulty seeing. Since insects use smell more and birds us vision more,
hummingbird flowers usually have little or no scent.
Also the flowers of hummingbird plants are usually spaced
apart so that they can accommodate the whirring wings.
The corolla of a hummingbird flower tends to be thick enough to resist the
beaks of other birds that may want to pierce their way through to get nectar.
Hummingbird flowers tend to bloom for a longer period of time than other flowers.
They bloom in the daylight hours.
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