Early spring nectar plants/trees for Hummingbirds?

Hi, everybody,

Perhaps you can more experienced Hummingbirders can please help me out on this...

I would like to know what the best "Early Spring" plants are for attracting Ruby-throateds.

I have heard recommended "Ohio Buckeye" and that's it. But there must be more? (I have many of the summer blooming plants HBs love.)

Does anyone have any observations or experience they can share?

I want the Hummingbirds to come early to my garden and stay to make nests, not just migrate through!

There are several plants that bloom early here that should attract them but not good plants for other reasons. Snapdragons and colombine are known nector plants but I've never seen them on them, well worth trying.. They come through here, North Alabama, as the locust and Paulonia trees bloom, haven't seen them on them yet but of course the trees are large and the birds small. Didn't see them listed as nector plants though they do drip it and bugs sure come to them. Lonicera, honeysuckle, is listed as a feeder plant but the early blooming ones are weeds from Hades. The Tartarin is loose at my mother's, "friends" gave us 6 as wildlife food, many thousands now, constant weeding and poison. be careful with this one, worse than the Hall's variety of honeysuckle. Fine in manicured setting, fairly attractive but highly invasive, makes privit look like Franklinia.

Ooops, forgot to mention this, several old times who do have nesting hummers told me this years ago and i got them that first year after trying it. Put your feeders out early, Mine go out today and change them frequently at least 2x a week and keep em up all the way to November, you are unlikely to see the scouts but the results are worth it. I had to buy bigger feeders as the normal ones were emptied long before i got home in the evening. This is critial, i got sloppy about filling the feeders when i got crazy busy and they left and I went down to 1 pair who stayed last year.

Bermudakiller--you are too funny in your descriptions of the invasives from Hades! (Not funny, though, I realize as I have read about the honeysuckles taking over everything and of course the whole kudzu fiasco, too.)

About your Pawlonia--perhaps the Hummers are going after the insects on them. They say that's what HBs like about the daisy type flowers, also...I will look into the Pawlonias and I wonder if HBs like 'Red Buds'? I started Columbine from seed but they won't be ready in time for HBs arrivals.

My plan is to put my feeders out early (as you mentioned) and also plant out a really big container of red HB flowers very early in the season and put it smack in the middle of my lawn to attract early season HB attention (scounts and flyovers).

Then as my garden begins to fill in they can take it from there.

I did plant 5 lilacs which are supposed to be popular, but they are so tiny (yet the deer have already found them) and I have a few Buckeye trees that have flowers blooming in the early spring.

I am going to watch the flowering trees and see which ones are favorites and make notes for next year.

When do the HBs get to your place? Should be fairly soon according to the migration maps, right?

Thanks for all the tips. t.

I am in Kansas City, Missouri area and my feeders have been out for a week. I have plants such as nicotiana and other tubular flowers just breaking the ground. It will be a while before they are ready for the hummers, so I put snapdragons in the ground - they are in bloom - I will watch to see if they come to those. Our first hummers don't arrive until late April.

HI, KayJones--

You are really early with your snapdragons, especially for Zone 5b! Hope you have some 'scouts' come by and give yours a buzz!

I will be interested to hear from you when you get a visitor.

(I've been to Independence a couple of times-- lovely town--we love to stop there on our cross country trips.) t.

You might try a red bud, it is certinaly a lovely quick tree and if it doesn't work out, you still have the tree but in a typical year, this one is NOT, they don't arrive till a week or so after the redbuds are gone, We are supposed to have hummers here by the 15th or shortly after, I've never seen one before the last week in march, but then i am gone during the day as a rule, i do my best watching out the bedroom windows as i SLOWLY let the caffine kick in. :) Not sure about your area, but in Tennessee, bluegrass region with limey soil, the winter Honesuckle is not as invasibe as the Tartarian, however here, mountians and acid soil, it is MUCH more invasive, enough for government grants to erradicate it. Just be cautious with these invaders.
One trick I've been told about is to put streamers in bright colors from your feeders till they find it, i've used the bright "dayglo" pink marking tape with moderate success, they also prefer feeders in part shade, nor sure why but they do love the cold mix right out of the fridge in the early mornings and will swarm the coolest feeder if i have to replace when i get home, so temp is probably a factor. Another thing, I'll put a few feeders way out in the garden so that when i get a territorial hummer, there is some food to far away to protect. The main male here watches all the feeders on all sides of the house, but about 500 feet away he has trouble.
The top plants that I've found here are mexican, pineple and the guarintica sages, moonvine and morning glories, i run these up trellises by the windows and hang the feeders from them, as well as on pyramids in the garden, the anise hyssops, cypress vine, not much of that, don't care for red in the garden in summer and niciotiana, esp the sylvestris
Good luck

Hi, bermudakiller-- interesting information about the cold/warm nectar. Haven't seen much written about that.

About the honeysuckles-- I am not familiar with all the common names but I know enough to stay away from the japanese and if I buy one will be sure to check the Invasives list for Ohio/KY. I do have a Coral Honesuckle which is quite well behaved.

In past years I have put out the 'Police Line' yellow tape, but in an effort to attract Baltimore Oriole's (didn't work). For HBs in early spring I put out fake red flowers from the Dollar store and old Christmas bows/ribbon. I don't know if that worked or not for me, but it made me feel like I was giving it my 'all'!

I like your trellis by the window idea-- I hadn't thought of doing that but it would add some excitement to a dull room to have some HBs flitting so close to the glass. An interesting new 'alarm clock' concept for a bedroom... (-:

By the Way, bermudakiller-- Welcome to DG! I can tell you will have lots of good ideas to contribute!

Don't forget to check in to the Welcome Mat Forum and tell us what kind of gardening/topics you are interested in. And the Southern Regional Forums, too.

I suppose your 'name' refers to the grass, not the Island, right?!

Have a great weekend. t.

You know, I hadn't thought about it, but it does seem like they like the cool refills. I'll try to watch for that this year. I should have hummers within the next 2 weeks so I'm watching the feeders real close. I have had them as early as Feb 28th, but the usual is somewhere in the last 2 weeks of Mar. Meanwhile the seed feeders are keeping me plenty busy!

When your HBs arrive, be sure to let the Hummer watchers know.

http://www.hummingbirds.net/map.html

I'm assuming tgif you get Ruby throateds, right.

Any other kinds?

They say Rufous are more common in the East now. I wonder when we'll get one!

All I have ever seen are the Ruby Throats - I watch hopefully for others, but no sign yet of the Rufus. But with all the weird weather patterns, there is no telling what might show up.

I will be sure to post the first sighting!
ginni

absolutly tabasco, I haven't yet gotten to the island, but i have gotten rid of "most " of the bermuda in my yard, thanks for the welcome

I just posted on another thread that I was hoping to see some early hummers, then realized I don't have anything for them to eat! I'll have to put out my feeder if I want to see them now. I do have a Coral Honeysuckle blooming but it's not where I can see it, which doesn't do me any good. I have the hanging feeders right in front of my windows. :)

Hummers are here! North Alabama, haven't seen em on my feeders yet, the cat has decide to sleep on the air conditioner just under the biggest feeder so i have to move it,ggggrrrrr , oppurtunistic little beast, but it hit last night's news.

I really don't have a lot of the plants that are listed as hummer favorites, but each year I have a number of Ruby Throats that appear to LIVE in my garden full time. I have been surprised to see how many plants they eat from that are not actually "listed". In my yard they frequent the roses, seem to love the morning glories, drink from the clover as well as verbena, hydrangeas, azaleas, you name it. My point is not that you should plant any of these things but just that they seem to drink from almost any flower they can reach. I get a real kick out of watching them at the morning glories. The blooms are so large that often they cannot access them the "normal" way so they "sit" on the side of the bloom and bend over to eat - all you can see is the tip of their tails sticking up in the air - the rest of the bird is inside the flower. It's hilarious, but they manage. I've never been lucky enough to have a camera around at the right time.

Love to see a pic when ya finaly get one.
Saw my first ones yesterday though the feeders kept emptying so i figured they were here

I'll keep trying to get those pics. The little guys OFTEN land on low branches beside me when I'm working in the garden. They sit there apparently undaunted by my presence, but fly away when I try to lift the camera.

I am not the expert in these matter, but since you asked for observations, here are a few more of mine. I appologize if any of these are not feasible in your Zone.

Last summer I added Honeysuckle Alabama Crimson which is not supposed to be invasive (time will tell, but I haven't actally let it out of the pot yet). It started blooming in late Mar, about the time the hummers arrived. Almost any time that I want to see them, I can almost always find one hovering around that vine.

I recently read that some experts theorize that hummers may be migrating here because they are following a particular woodpecker; they eat the sap from the trees where the woodpecker drills and eat the insects that congregate there. I happen to live adjacent to a section of forest which has a number of dead trees complete with a plethera of woodpecker holes. If you are not near a forest, you might consider keeping a portion of any dead trees in your area - as long as you can do so safely.

For 5 years I have been in the process of converting my backyard to a cottage garden. I have a very small patch of lawn. The rest of the yard is literally stuffed with plants with a series of access paths. Consequently, during the growing season there are always numerous types of plants in bloom at any given time.I think this is part of what keeps the hummers here. From what I've read they need to eat every 15 minutes or so. As long as there are lots of flowers and insects (which always follow the flowers), they have little reason to stray very far. They tend to stop and sit on tree branches between feeding to defend their turf from invaders.

Lastly, and some may take exception to this - but it works. The 1st year or so I had little activity at the feeder. One day, I tried an experiment. I mixed the package with 1/2 the specified amount of water. (The package says you can make it 1.5x strength; I went with 2x) Shortly after I hung it back out, a hummer stopped by. Before, they had always taken a sip or 2 and left. This time he took a sip and then another and another. In between sips he kept making this "squeeling" sound; don't laugh but it sounded like "wheee!" He stayed at the feeder almost forever and looked SO happy, like I would look if I'd just landed on Chocolate Mountain. That was the year that they raised a family (in the tree beside the feeder I think from flight patterns) in my yard and the yard was full of little hummers. Late in the afternoon when I suspect that the flowers were exhausted of nectar, the hummers would appear at the feeder virtually every 10-15 minutes and would stay for a while. I saw a major difference in activity at the feeder and in the rate at which the hummer food was dissapearing. I have since read that if you make the food too thick they can't "suck it up" or whatever they do; I think of it like those milkshakes that won't go through the straw. However, 2x does not seem to be to thick for my "guys". Note that I don't boil mine - just mix with hot tap water. That way I don't risk making syrup.

Hope some of this helps. Good luck with the hummers.

scutler-- you make some good points--but a little clarificaton, please--are you mixing nectar from a package? You don't use sugar and water? Mmmm....

I am mostly interested in the plants/trees/bushes you have blooming in early spring--when the HBs first migrate to your area and make flyovers to decide where to settle. I know you mentioned the honeysuckle, but do you have lilac or buckeye? they are known early spring HB plants. Some say, like the sapsucker, the HBs follow the lilac bloom north.

Well, in any case, I'd better get busy putting my feeders out because I noticed on Hummingbirds.net somebody in cincinnati has already spotted one (on April 1). And I wanted to be the first!!!

Thanks for all the good info. t.

I do use the package mix most of the time, not because I think it's better but because it's easier. I use sugar and water when I run out of the mix; I'm using sugar now, in fact. The mix I use calls for 2 cups of water; I use 1 cup. With the sugar, I use 1:2 ratio. I kid you not, that "rich" mixture makes a lot of difference with my hummers. With the regular strength brew, I had to pour most of it out; they drink that xtra strenght stuff dry. If you don't boil it, you probably can't get it too strong; hot tap water will only hold so much sugar in suspension.

Now about those plants, I didn't mention plants a lot because of the difference in our zones. Only a few varieties of Lilac have even a prayer of blooming here; Lilac needs a good chill to set blooms. (I LOVE lilac and peonies which also aren't very happy here) Our lowest temp is about 28F, and we only reach that maybe 2-3 nights all winter.Not familiar with buckeye; suspect that it does not live here either. On the other hand, there is something blooming here year round. Flowering Quince and Camelias bloom through winter and verbena starts blooming in Jan or Feb, etc. My hummers visit all kinds of plants, not just those on hb list. I have read that roses don't have enough nectar for hummer, but I have watched my hummers make the rounds of the roses many, many times. There is a "wild" trumpet vine in the forest that adjoins my property. It grows some 40' or more up into the trees; I see the hummers visiting it, too. However, the trumpet vine doesn't bloom until much later in summer. The red honeysuckle which they love is blooming when they arrive.

I realize that you asked about early hb plants, but you also stated that you wanted to find a way to get them to STAY not just pass through. If the pass through, then they found your yard, right? In my yard, the extra strength brew seemed to make the difference between hummers that visit my yard periodically while making neighborhood rounds and hummers that LIVE in my yard. I think the combination of a variety of flowers blooming constantly with extra sweet brew in the feeder is what works for me. Once the hummers set up camp in your yard one year, they tend to return with bags packed every year.

Last year, due to knee surgery, I did not put my feeder out. My hummer actually found me in the yard and hovered around my face - like 10" from my face. I had to laugh. I really think he was saying, "hey, I'm back. Where's the grub?" So, I hobbled inside and got the feeder for him. Sometimes when I forget to fill/change the feeder they fly up to the window and hover around. Birds are very smart. I think they see me filling it. They know.

You said "like the sapsucker...the hb follow the lilac north". That gets to what I was saying about the latest theory of why the HBs actually migrate north. From what I read, the latest theory - and I believe this came from the Cornel Bird Lab magazine - is that the hb are actually following the SAPSUCKER. As the article stated, when the hbs leave south america, there are still flowers in south america; however, there are few flowers in many parts of n america when they 1st arrive. To live they need insects for protein as well as nectar for energy. In trying to figure out why they leave s america, bird experts noticed that the hbs arrive here at the same time as the sapsucker. So one theory is that they are following the sapsucker because the woodpecker provides a steady source of insects (that are attracted to the oozing sap) and the hummers can subsist on the oozing sap in leau of nectar until the flowers start blooming.

I don't know how people take those great hummer pics. Here is my 1st attempt and as bad as it is, I'm happy to have snagged it today.

Tabasco...

I see on Journey North Maps that someone has reported a sighting in our area. I thought it was you but I've checked the recent posts by you and you haven't mentioned any....Should I put my feeders out now? I was thinking of putting some red and orange fabric around in the garden where I'll have the feeders. What do you think?

Molly

I read about 1 lady who said she puts a red tablecloth on the ground when the hummers are expected and ties big red bows on a bare tree near the feeder. I was thinking of trying that but my hummers showed up before I got around to it. I like the tablecloth idea - seems like a good beacon.

MsMolly: I live in western Cinti. I put out a feeder yesterday. I haven't seen any hummers, I just saw on the map that there had been a sighing so I figured it was time

Karen

MsMolly--YES, I think you should put out your feeder with all the trappings! I saw that there were 2 sightings in Cincy and one in Dayton last weekend (but not mine, I'm sorry to report!!)

We did have 3 wild turkeys in our yard yesterday and a Pileated woodpecker family is stopping by regularly now, so that's kind of fun.

I am also trying to get Orioles and Bluebirds, but no luck with those yet either.

If you're interested in trying for orioles this old thread has a lot of good tips. Orioles like orange --so you will have to lay out an orange tablecloth and a red tablecloth. LOL Will the neighbors think you are whacky? Mine will!

http://davesgarden.com/place/t/468489/

I had no idea that you should put your h'bird feeders out so early!! No wonder it takes me a while to attract them as the weather warms up. I'll get mine out today!!

Diane

Scutler--thanks for all the good insights on how you attract early hummingbirds. I confess I haven't tried souping up the recipe, but that probably makes some sense, especially during our cold early springs. We have loads of Sapsuckers around here, so, now all I have to do is find out where they are making their sap 'fountains'!

Gardengram, I am trying to get early hummingbirds here so I put my feeders out first thing in spring. I think the Cincinnati Birding group generally says late April - early May is about right in southern Ohio. We did see two HBs in our neighborhood April 15, so I know they are around.

My Ohio buckeye trees are blooming now http://www.cnr.vt.edu/dendro/dendrology/syllabus/factsheet.cfm?ID=332

so I am hopeful we will get some HBs nesting here soon. They say the HBs love them.

(Although I understand the red buckeye is really their favorite 'buckeye'.

Does anyone have an observation on this?

http://www.dirtdoctor.com/view_question.php?id=862

They say red buckeyes are easy to grow from seed.

This is my feeder set up for right now. I put three red ones in one tree out in the open with some red Lobelia--trying to attract 'flyovers'. Later in the spring I will spread the feeders out around the yard. And my usual hummingbird plants will be in full flower. I haven't had the nerve to lay out a red tablecloth, but I did put some fake red flowers around a feeder in the backyard.

Good luck everybody. t.



This message was edited Apr 24, 2006 6:05 PM

Another interesting idea to group them that close together. I always spread mine out with the thought that if they don't like one location, maybe they'll like a different one.

I have put four of them out and watched them, but no h'birds yet. We sure have lots of other kinds of birds, though.

Don't know if I mentioned this and too lazy to go back and read all the stuff again. Another idea I liked and was going to try: decorate a tree with big red bows (like a Charlie Brown Christmas tree).

I've seen several Hummers at one time but the "steadys" are a male and female Rufous. The male Rufous is a ruffian! LOL He tries to hog ALL the feeders and stays very busy. I have tufts of raw wool hanging off trees and love to watch the female hover and pull off tufts with her bill. She flies backward and forward working so hard to get just the right amount/length.

The ruby throated HB arrived last week here in the mountains of western North Carolina. He's been going for the azaleas as well as the flat of red impatiens I have on a grow rack on the back porch. A miniature red rose out there entices him, but he always backs away at the last nanosecond.

Butterflies of myriad types are swarming, literally swarming! They really favor the Dianthus.

What am I doing wrong? I've had my feeders out for two weeks (well, maybe not that long) and I've not seen a single hummer. Lots of butterflies this year though.

Diane

The trick on buckeyes is to gather the seed before it drops of and is lost or eaten. get then as soon as ripe and plant, they do better in the ground but do ok in pots, however they are native here , can be weeds at times and might need some protection up north.

Saw my first hummer for sure today, thought there had been some around, the corner of the eye thing, but there was no doubt about this one, male and on the feeder.

I hope it won't be long before the HBs get to our yard. I see my lilacs and buckeyes are almost ready to bloom although it's so dang cold here now I think the HBs who are smart will stay south for a week or two more!

Some up north of here have spotted some HB scouters though already and I hope they survive this arctic blast.

I have a big red sage in a pot that hummers have been visiting for at least the last month.
Bermuda, you say you have got rid of your bermuda grass? How long has it been gone. Pray tell how.
I was told that their roots can go down 6 feet. I am trying to dig/solarize this grass to build raised beds for vegs., etc..
Karen in Austin, TX

We got our hummers on about April 25 this past spring. Now we have several HB families around and a lot of the activity seems to be in two Prunus--I wonder if they are nesting in those...? And a blue spruce type evergreen.

I have to refill our HB feeders almost every morning and I'm wondering if a flying squirrel or bats have found them tasty, too. I started some trumpet vines this summer for the HBs but they are so sloooow to grow.

kpoore--good luck with your Bermuda Grass issue. Sounds like a challenge. I suppose you have considered glyphosate treatments, although 'round-up' seems so environmentally unfriendly...

When you do get around to building your raised beds, don't forget to check out the lasagne gardening threads if you haven't already. We made our raised beds that way and they are great.

Good luck with your butterfly and bird garden plans.

tabasco, by any chance do you have raccoon visitors? The raccoons in that visit my yard each night quickly learned how to climb the tree or pole and turn the hummer feeder sideways to drink the nectar. I've caught the little scondrels in the act. They just tip the thing sideways and pour the stuff into their open mouths waiting below. Crafty little things they are. (For a while I thought my hummers were scarfing the stuff down awfully fast, too)

Yes, we do have raccoons and I have seen our squirrels tip the feeders into their mouths.

But up until now the HB suction cup feeders on the windows have been beyond their craftiness, so I thought it was a flying squirrel. I have seen the flying squirrels on our other window seed feeders in wintertime...

It is getting annoying. That's for sure!

Perhaps you could just bring the feeders in at night and return them to the pole every morning.

I used to go camping as a chaperone with my church's youth group. We always tried to secure the food supplies in coolers and then bungie cord them all together really tight. This seemed to work to keep our food safe. But one morning we got up after a night of hearing the raccoons fighting and scrounging through our campsite. When we were walking around the campsite first thing that morning, we found soda cans all over the place. We had forgotten to put a case of them up before retiring for the night. To our surprise ... every single can was empty. The raccoons had managed to get their fingers/paws on the pop-tops and opened every single one of them enough to empty them. And I have no doubt they drank them! I've seen them drink Capri Suns by puncturing a hole in the bags and drinking the stream of juice flowing out of them. They are really smart and love human food!!! And I bet they had a serious caffeine/sugar buzz after drinking all those Cokes!!! LOL!

Don't ever underestimate their determination! We've had our plastic outdoor trash can lids literally shredded by their claws getting into them for the thrown out food.

LOL! at those crafty critters. I have seen them eat a raw chicken egg by 1st biting a small hole in the top (like a coddled egg) and then slurping the contents out without ever collapsing the shell. If they can do that, they can surely manage soda cans and juice cartons.

I think my family would kill me if I tried to bring in my birdfeeders at night! Already they say I pay more attention to my birds/butterflies/garden than to them!

In our township it is legal to trap and 'dispatch' the raccoons bothering your propery as long as you do it in your own yard. The park ranger detected a terrible smell along the forest trail along the neighbor's back lot line and apparently the neighbor had a pile of 30 raccoon carcasses piled high there. Ick.

But they couldn't do anything about it because it's legal if you keep the remains on your own property. (We just have 1 to 2 acre properties -- not big acreages. Everyone on our cul de sac was horrified.)