How to Attract Hummingbirds to your Garden
I still remember the first time I had seen a hummingbird up close. It had come to drink from a flower in my front garden bed on a hot summer day in Kansas. Since that day I have always had a love of hummingbirds that I passed on to my own children. Now we make a point to attract them to our garden where we can watch these beautiful and beneficial pollinators fly around enjoying the fresh nectar from the flowers or sipping from a feeder. Learning how to attract hummingbirds to your garden is quite simple. Here are a few tricks to help you attract hummingbirds to your garden.
Attract hummingbirds with a hummingbird feeder.
When spring comes and the hummingbirds make their way back north there are not a lot of flowers to sustain them. This is where kind people placing hummingbird feeders out for them come in. When you place a hummingbird feeder out not only will you attract them to your garden where the hummingbirds will help pollinate your beautiful flowers but you are also providing them with valuable food they need to survive.
You can make your own hummingbird feeder with a wine or beer bottle or opt for a store-bought hummingbird feeder. Look for one with plenty of red on the feeder as hummingbirds are attracted to the color red.
Often commercial hummingbird food has red colorants in it in an effort to attract hummingbirds but this can harm them more than help. Avoid hummingbird nectars with red food colorings or better yet make your own.
Use 1 cup of water to 1/4 cup of sugar and bring to a simmer. Be sure to clean out your hummingbird feeder at least once a week to prevent the sugar from fomenting and making your hummingbirds sick.
Plant flowers to attract hummingbirds to your garden
The more flowers you plant in your garden the more bees, butterflies, and hummingbirds you will attract to your garden. Hummingbirds are particular fans of flowers that have red coloring or a trumpet shape. Flowers like trumpet vine, red cardinal flower, and bee balm all make great additions to your hummingbird garden. Daylilies make a great addition to your garden that are low maintenance and come back every year. Want an easy to grow verity try a hummingbird and butterfly verity mix. Try to plant a variety so that you will have flowers from early spring to late fall allowing your garden to be a home for hummingbirds the entire season.
Add red to your garden to attract hummingbirds.
Hummingbirds love the color red. When decorating your garden add red accents, paint planters red and make an effort to sneak little bits of their favorite color into your garden to help attract them.
Attract hummingbirds to your garden with insects.
One thing a lot of people do not know is that hummingbirds eat insects for protein. They love aphids, ants, flies, and gnats. Skip the insecticides and offer the hummingbirds a feast of unwanted insects in your garden. To help them a bit invite other natural predators to your garden with a bug house. Not only do insecticides harm bees they can harm the hummingbirds you are working so hard to attract to your garden.
Why do you want hummingbirds in your garden?
Hummingbirds are a sign of a thriving ecosystem in your garden. Hummingbirds are beneficial and will protect your plants from predators while helping to pollinate your garden.
Many sciences of hummingbirds are listed as threatened or endangered due to the destruction of their natural habitat. By welcoming them into your garden you are helping protect this beautiful animal.
