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)

• 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)

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

What is a Hummingbird Flower?

There is a strong interdependence between hummingbirds and certain flowers.  The hummingbird needs nectar and these

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

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.