Attracting Hummingbirds to Your Garden
Parker residents get to enjoy Hummingbirds from May through September. Just listen for that familiar buzzing sound, rush inside pull out and clean your feeders. and make that homemade nectar.
The number one thing you can do to attract hummingbirds to your home is to plant flowers that hummers love. Plant them in different areas of your garden so as many as possible can join the feast. It’s a fun summer pass time just watching the hummer wars once you get your garden hummingbird friendly.
Top Perennial Flowers for Hummingbirds
- Bee Balm
- Cardinal Flower
- Salvia
- Butterfly Bush
- Trumpet Creeper
- Lupine
- Columbine (Our State Flower)
- Day Lily
- Penstemon
- Peony
- Coral Bells
- Oriental Poppy
Best Annuals for Hummingbirds
Keep these hummer friendly plants in mind when you are buying your hanging baskets
- Petunias
- Zinnias
- Cleomes
- impatiens
- Fuscia
Hummingbirds Like Spider Webs
If your goal is to attract hummingbirds to your garden, don’t remove any spider webs that appear among the plants. Hummingbirds use the delicate threads of these webs for material to build nests. And hummingbirds often steal insects that are trapped in spider webs.
Hummingbird Feeders
Once you’ve attracted these wonderful creatures to your yard, putting up a hummingbird feeder is the next step.
Hummingbird Nectar Recipe
The standard sugar-to-water ratio for homemade hummingbird food is 1 part sugar to 4 parts water. First boil your water measure it out and mix in the plain white sugar. Let cool and pour into your feeders. If you have lots of feeders use 4 cups water to 1 cup of sugar. I usually mix up this big batch and store half in the refrigerator.
**Do not use any fancy sugars thinking it’s healthy for the hummingbirds. Organic sugar, Turbinado Sugar, Brown Sugar, Artificial Sweetener and Honey are all toxic to hummingbirds. DO NOT ADD RED FOOD COLORING!
My favorite feeders are the ones that are easy to fill, easy to clean and don’t leak. Over my 40 years of gardening my daughter purchased me this brand for Mother’s Day and I adore them. I gave away all my other feeders and now have 4 of these gorgeous glass ones.
The feeders from Grateful Gnome are SO beautiful in the garden and the hummers just love them and fight over them.
This was my first one.
I loved the first one so much I next bought this one. They call it a Purple Speckled Mushroom Feeder.
I have both of these in the back yard, one right by the kitchen window and the other in the garden near where we sit outside to enjoy the weather. This summer I had to add one to the front yard so I could see it right outside my art studio window. My front door is a fought for beautiful plum color so I think this will look fabulous.
Caged Pink Flower Hummingbird Feeder from Grateful Gnome
16 Fluid Ounces – Free Bonus Accessories S-Hook, Ant Moat, Brush and Hemp Rope Included
As you know if you’ve lived and tried to garden in Colorado for very long there is one very important rule to ALWAYS remember.
Wait until after Mother’s Day to buy your annual pots and baskets of flowers!
If you’ve already broken that rule then just know that you better be Janey on the spot about bringing them in if there’s even a hint that it might snow or freeze overnight. All those hours at your local favorite gardening store, bringing all your petaled friends home, hardening them off, and then lovingly placing them into your favorite pots were wasted.
Things to do in April in & for your Garden
Indoor Things to do
- Plant seeds for peppers, spinach collards, beets, celery garlic leeks, onions, lima beans, endive, escarole and eggplant
Outdoors:
- From seed: Carrots, peas, spinach, turnips, chinese cabbage, parsley, spinach, broccoli, kale, cauliflower, onion sets, garlic and asparagus roots
- Plant Spring bulbs and roots – Ixia, Lily of the Valley, anemone, lilies, freesia, gladiolus, dahlia, cannah lilies and peonies – Plant “Hardened-off” perennials
- Hardened Off = those you have acclimated to outdoor conditions by leaving them out during the day but sheltering them from cold nighttime temperatures.
