Keep yard humming(bird) with alluring plants

  The buzz and beauty of brightly colored hummingbirds captures the bird enthusiast in nearly everyone. We are mesmerized by the flash of bright colors and their ability to fly forward, backward and sideways with the greatest of ease.

  Colorful, combative and energetic hummingbirds are among the world’s most popular birds. They have the ability to give us hour upon hour of entertainment. As the smallest bird in the world, hummingbirds are wonderful little creatures and each one has its own personality. The maneuvers they make in midair are incredible as they dash and dart among plants and each other.

  With the fall planting season right around the corner, consider planting a variety of plants to attract hummingbirds.

  In the process of creating a hummingbird garden, you could also be building a landscape that will be the talk of the neighborhood.

  Planting nectar-bearing plants is the best long-term approach to keeping hummingbirds around. Flowers that depend on pollination do all they can to please and attract hummingbirds. Their blossoms project into the open where birds will not get caught in the foliage. Since hummingbirds have no ability to smell, the flowers do not need to be scented.

  In selecting flowers to attract hummingbirds, you are not limited to using red flowers, although the color red is notorious for attracting hummingbirds. As the birds become more familiar with your yard, they will select flowers of other colors as well. They will hover around orange, yellow, pink, purple and even blue.

  To entice these fascinating tiny and colorful birds, create a whole habitat with trees, vines, shrubs and flowers. Your hummingbird flowers will need sun to grow and your hummingbirds will need shade trees to perch in between feedings.

  Don’t forget the importance of plants that provide nesting materials. Hummingbirds like downy material for their nests, using these fibers with bits of leaves, spiderwebs, moss and lichens to construct their nests. Willow trees and eucalyptus trees are invaluable for providing downy materials.

  It takes a fantastic amount of energy for hummingbirds to keep their wings beating, at 40 or more beats per second. Ounce for ounce, their metabolic rate is about 300 times that of a human.

  Along with flowers, another simple way to attract them to your yard is to put out feeders filled with sugar and water. Mix a solution of one part white granulated sugar with four parts water. Bring the solution to a boil, and then let it cool before filling the feeder.

  Do not use red food coloring or dye, as this is very harmful to hummingbirds. As long as your feeder has red on it, this will attract the hummingbirds.

   Never use artificial sweeteners, which have no nutritional value. Most important, do not use honey, which ferments quickly and causes a deadly fungus. Change the solution every day in the summer, washing the feeder out with hot water between fillings to prevent harmful bacteria from growing. Hummingbird feeders are usually bright red because hummingbirds find the color red more attractive.

  The best place for your hummingbird feeder is on a pole in a flower bed or hung on a porch near flowers hummingbirds are attracted to. If you are placing a hummingbird feeder out for the first time, or you have not seen any hummingbirds visiting your feeder, try placing it close to flowers where hummingbirds have been seen feeding.

  You can also tie 18- to 24-inch strips of red ribbon to the feeder. The blowing ribbons will make it easier for hummingbirds to see.

  Hummingbirds are very territorial and will aggressively protect their nectar source. To prevent a single hummingbird from monopolizing your feeder, place several feeders out of view of each other around your yard. Or simply place a bunch of feeders together so no one individual hummingbird can possibly defend them all. Place feeders at varying heights.

  In addition to flowers and feeders, provide a source of water. Hummingbirds are attracted to a water source, especially if it is running. A small fountain with a fine nozzle that provides mist-like spray works well. Consider a misting system along the eaves of your patio for the hummingbirds to fly through, and provide a small fresh pool of water daily that they will use for bathing.

  For those who enjoy both gardening and bird watching, it is fortunate that there is such a plenitude of plants for attracting hummingbirds. Many of the plants adept at attracting our attention are also considered among the best flowers to attract hummingbirds.

  Choose plants for the Southwest when planning your hummingbird garden. Here is a partial list to help you get started on your hummingbird habitat. Choose from annuals, perennials, vines, shrubs, trees, bedding plants and hanging plants at any local plant nursery.

  • Flowers: Petunias, nasturtiums, flowering tobacco, red salvia, lantana, geraniums, daylily, pansy, snapdragons, zinnia, lavender and sage.

  • Vines: Morning glory, trumpet creeper and jasmine.

  • Shrubs: Red and yellow birds of paradise, butterfly bush, hibiscus and cape honeysuckle.

  • Trees: Orange, lemon and grapefruit, eucalyptus, mesquite, palo verde, royal Poinciana, locust, Hawthorne, bottlebrush and ocotillo.

  Once hummingbirds discover their new oasis, the same individuals are likely to return each year at about the same time; they are remarkable creatures of habit. The number of hummingbirds that frequent your yard is closely linked to the abundance of food, water, nesting sites and perches you provide.

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Debi Papp is a member of the Yuma Garden Club and other gardening organizations. She can be reached at 783-3189 or greenthumbs1@roadrunner.com.