Winning Combination Part 2

Female Anna's Hummingbird and Turk's Cap(or Drummond Wax-mallow) AND THE shot, I've been waiting to capture.  I label this as "iconic" because it's the picture that flashes inside people's heads when I say hummingbird.  This is an on target bill to flower contact.  You'd be surprised at how much they don't go to this part of the flower....it's usually at the base of the flower.  So this was pretty exciting.

In the 2nd part of our series, I'll explore some fun hummingbird plants to place around your gardens.  The photo shoot for this particular day was extremely exciting.  I was playing around with the color here.  I don't like to alter most of my work, but I wanted to capture the gentle feel of the shade, movement and color in this series of pictures.  When you watch a hummingbird feed from your garden flowers, it's like saying, "Thank you gardener friend for helping me out."  While hummingbird feeders are great, they aren't like the flowers we place in our gardens. 

Hummingbirds are attracted to color!  Mainly they love red, yellow, and orange colored flowers but they'll stop by the blues and pinks as well.  I've seen them visit my Jacaranda tree when it has purple flowers.  It really loves the Desert Willow tree I have in my side garden during the month of June. The Turk's Cap is the featured plant.  It does well in almost complete shade with filtered sun in Tucson.  It requires moderate watering and is a native bush to Texas and Mexico.  It will grow 4 feet wide and about 4 feet in height.  Plant near or under the canopy of a tree(again in Tucson).  I will be placing this into our planters under the oak trees along our water line.  Gorgeous plant.

For gardeners not in the desert, brightly–colored flowers that are tubular hold the most nectar, and are particularly attractive to hummingbirds. These include perennials such as bee balms, columbines, daylilies, and lupines; biennials such as foxgloves and hollyhocks; and many annuals, including cleomes, impatiens, and petunias.  Many of these plants, like the hollyhock, do well in Tucson during the months of March thru May.

And as for us desert dwellers? Fucshia(shade and water), Mexican Bird of Paradise, Desert Willow, Tecoma Stans(Orange Jubilee, etc), SALVIA!!(most excellent plant for hummers), Lantana,  Fairy Duster, Verbena, Silk Tree(Mimosa), and the list can go on and on.  Think tubular:)

Another note about attracting hummers to your garden.  Group plants together.  They hover and zoom from flower to flower quickly.  If you place one flower into the garden, the hummingbird will visit and zoom off in a matter of seconds.  You want them to stay for awhile so that you can enjoy seeing them around your garden:)  Similiar to hummingbird feeders.  People with many hummingbird feeders have more frequent visits than a person with one feeder.  But this homeowner is only putting one up:)  Sugar water and maintenance can be costly on the budget and time.

And remember....attracting hummingbirds with the right kind of plants, generally also attracts various butterflies, but we'll explore that more tomorrow.  For now, I hope you've enjoyed the hummingbird in flight shots.  Here is one below that is not so good but I thought I'd show you another plant known as the Fairy Duster.  Hummers love this plant as do bees:)  More tomorrow....