Strategies for Attracting More Hummingbirds to Your Garden

I miss really Hummers!

Photo by Ted Muller

California Fuchsia

(Zauschneria californica mexicana)

And you thought this Post title was going to be about some magical Elixirs to put in those feeders to intoxicate and attract more Hummers than you ever had before ? No this is about planting natives and attracting them that way. Okay, but maybe later I'll intro a clever 'natural' mix recipe at the end of my story that you MAY use for your own feeders.  California Fuchsia is a low growing perennial that is useful if you want to attract Hummingbirds.  After it's been established the first summer this red fuchsia flowering native plant can make it on its own. Up in the San Jacinto Mountians where I lived in Riverside Co California, we had very bitter cold winters at times and my California Fuchsia would die back to the ground. But it would return with a vengeance every spring/summer when the weather warmed up again. Interestingly, these plants would also bring some friends in the form of new baby plants, so they reseeded very well which is what I wanted anyway. Maintenance is like any native, just learn to prune it when it starts to look a bit rangy in spots. Never fertilize with chemicals, always inoculate with a good mycorrhizal - beneficial bacteria mix from any company out there that supplies such mixes. Do the homework.

Photo by Garden Coach

Mexican Lobelia Bush (Lobelia laxiflora)

This is another one of those beautiful red flower with yellow parts protruding from the inside out. Once again, this plant even looks as if it was created for the mechanical apparatus the Hummingbird uses for extracting nectar. A tough, long-lived perennial with vibrant red and orange tubular blossoms that hummingbirds really love and jealously guard. In fact they fought over mine. Again, this plant for me would die back in winter at my elevation of 4000' and I'd just cut it back hard to the ground, but down below in areas like Temecula/Murrieta CA they are green all year long. Of course pruning back any dead stems and seed pods. Likes sun, good soil and regular summer water. After five years in the garden, mine was a clump 2 feet tall and 4 feet wide. I had it next to one of my most favourite shrubs and my next shrub subject Cleveland Sage. Once again, don't fertilizer with chemicals, just inoculate with a good VAM mycorhizal inoculant.

photo: MickiP56 (wildscaping.com)

image: Bert Wildson - http://www.laspilitas.com

image: Bert Wilson - http://www.laspilitas.com

Cleveland Sage (Salvia clevelandii)

Salvia clevelandii is an evergreen shrub that reaches 1 to 1.5 m (3.3 to 4.9 ft) in height and width. To me this is the most aromatic of all the sages and there is another named cross variety which is even more aromatic and listed as Cleveland sage ('Aromas') and can be found at Tree of Life Native Plant Nursery on Hwy 74 in San Juan Capsitrano in Orange Co, California, or Las Pilitas Native Plant Nursery north of Escondido California.  It's the leaves that are always fragrant even when not flowering. They have ashy green leaves which are obovate with wrinkled ridges much like the fresh common sage you purchase in the stores for your own personal cooking and flavouring of foods. The leaves  will grow less than 2.5 centimeters (almost an inch) in length. Flowers are on 30 centimeters (12 in) spikes, with numerous whorls on a single stalk of upright light pinkish violet to a deep purple or even cobalt blue blooms which open in June–July.

My hummingbirds guarded this plant with a vengeance as well. And what is interesting is that most folks think that Hummingbirds are only attracted to REDS , but they go for the BLUE coloured flowers as well. Another side benefit was that I found on a hot summer day the air around the yard would permeate with the aromatic fragrance of Cleveland Sage. In fact whenever I often drove up and down the hill, I'd pick a sprig of sage and place it under my seat. My own version of those chemically scented Christmas Trees people hang on their rear view mirrors. I would also substitute Black Sage (Salvia mellifera) if  Cleveland couldn't be found. On a culinary note, I love cooking Pinto Beans - Chili with this same sage leaves. And as always  - once again fertilizers are not necessary, just inoculate with a good VAM mycorrhizae mix. You'll have to cut it back a bit every year as it to can get a bit rangy if left to itself. But by doing so you'll get a great next year's bloom. Great near pool locations also.

 

 

 

image: US Forest Service

Western Columbine (Aquilegia formosa)

Native to Utah, California and all the way north to Alaska, this woodland perennial produces 2 ft stems with 2 inch red-orange and yellow flowers in late spring. Although delicate looking, it is quite hardy. Without summer water it will die back. Mostly in the wild of Southern California I always found it in association with springs, seeps or streams and often in partial shade. Though it may go into a summer dormancy where moisture is low, however,  it will come back as it does where winters kill the above ground foliage. In each case it will return again in the spring. Partial shade will always be my recommendation for warmer areas. Where I live it's not an issue at all, the whole country is one continuous cool wet with cloudy or partially cloudy skies. Plant it in any woodland garden setting, good under oak trees. 

The flower almost looks as if it specifically was designed for the Hummers. It's another one of those spectacular plants that when in flower they guard with their lives. Another reason I like this plant is the foliage reminds me of Cilantro one of my most favourite cooking herbs. The foliage also has the look of woodland moist garden Maiden Hairs Fern or Meadow Rue. In any event there are a number of varieties that you should check out. Some wild some hybrids, but all kool looking. Arizona and New Mexico have a 'Yellow' variety while the Colorado Rockies have a Purple & White combination. Now check out some of the flashy hybrids in the seed packets at your local nursery. Here are some examples.

 

 

 

photos by Davis Densley

Rocky Mountain Columbine (Aquilegia caerules)

Aquilegia chrysantha  Arizona Columbine

I could go on and on, but you can Google pictures yourself and see the great variety and effort that others who have a deep love for these plants, especially when that love is specialized and concentrated on one type, the results are astonishing. There are so many kool things out in the natural world and they have the ability to allow one to escape from the insanity that the Media brings into our busy lives on a daily basis. Again, the Hummers like'em all. Incredibly, the Swedes over here often have no common names for many of these plants. In the stores and among regular conversations they refer to the name by it's scientific selection.

 Other Things You Want For Your Hummers A Humming Bird needs to collect Spider's web to build a Nest with.

I remember reading way back in the late 1992 or 1993 issue of an Arizona Highways Magazine that told of the The Sonoran Living Desert Museum in Tucson did a bit of house cleaning and rid the Hummingbird Aviary of some spider pests, but later on the nests failed and they wondered why the Hummingbird's nest building failed. Spider Webs were the reason. Here's a link to that story. Really kool.

 Here's an excerpt from the above link if it doesn't show:From Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum:

http://www.desertmuseum.org/visit/exhibits_pollinationgardens.php

Hummingbird Aviary by Karen Krebbs

    "When we first opened the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum's hummingbird aviary, we had no idea whether or not any of the seven species of the birds on exhibit would breed and rear young. Since opening day, however, we've seen Costas, Broad-billed, Black-chinned, Anna's, and Calliope hummingbirds nest, lay eggs, and rear young. There have been a total of 114 nests built, 186 eggs laid, 116 birds hatched, and 102 birds fledged. No other zoological institution can boast of such success!" 

    "But this success has not come without a good deal of effort on the part of the exhibit keepers and the hummingbirds - especially when it comes to nest-building. For example, in 1992 we renovated the exhibit, clearing out all the plants and expanding and replanting the new space. Within a month of the renovation, several hummingbirds began to build nests." 

   "The nests were loose and quite fragile, and even experienced nesters were having difficulty. Most of the nests fell apart and we lost several eggs that fell out and broke. We scratched our heads for days trying to figure out the problem before we finally concluded that a primary component of hummingbird nests was missing spider webs!" 

   "Hummingbirds use spider webbing as a way to bind and tie their nests together. The spiders had yet to reestablish themselves in the spanking new exhibit. I immediately went out and collected webs from around the grounds, rolling them up on twigs, which I left in the aviary. I also collected 25 labyrinth spiders and introduced them. Within days the spiders were weaving their webs in the aviary and the birds' nests immediately improved".

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Another thing they love doing is finding a tiny ball of buzzing knats buzzing around your yard somewhere. Then suddenly darting in and out from nowhere attacking and eating them. And you thought they never actually ate or that all they did was drink nectar. They really love knats and other tiny insects that may be found and eaten inside the flowers themselves. So leave some of the bugs alone and in fact attract them to your yard. Create balance all around. It's also important to take note that when they are nesting and raising young Hummers, these young ones also need more protein  in the development stage at youth.

This is like a Hummingbird Thanksgiving Dinner

 

 Okay, now for my favourite feeder mix.

Hummingbirds don't require the already made up sugar mix with the added  Red Dye. They don't require it. That's more of a marketing selling point to capture the trade in Dollar$$$ from Human Beings who are prone(suckered) by eyesight advertising. Kind of like those dog food commercial that show a canned product that looks edible enough for the owner to eat. The dog doesn't care. If they like it it's because of smell and taste, but mostly they just wolf it down. Unless their one of those finicky lap dogs like my grandmother had, then forget it. Nothing pleases them.

As far as feeders go, they do seem to be attracted to the feeders with the RED Colouring on them. You know, the large plastic tubular flowers coloured red. Get one of those and you don't need a mix with flashy red dye that was prepackaged to please you. I use Raw Sugar as opposed to the white bleached sugar which is once again a marketing strategy from way back in history which gives the appearance of clean white and pristine product. Raw sugar is much better and I add another secret ingredient, or maybe not so secret. I use real Orange Extract. Just 3 or 4 drops. At other times I have added a drop of two of Mint flavour. But they appreciate flavour as we do. Nectar from flowers is not just plain old sticky sweet sugars, there is variety in flavour as out there in the plant world as well.

Here are some of the Feeder Models I use

Very popular model

Typical Popular Style

I put up those last two photos to illustrate a possible reality that you could experience in your own yard. I used similar feeders that could hold numerous birds, though not all were feeding at once. Take a look at this photo of my old place and the large wood covered deck and porch on the top of the hill there. I had 6 feeders strung all along the deck attached to the main outer beams holding the porch up from the house. The porch was 56 foot long and 15' deep. It was a big deck and we like sitting out there on the outdoor Rattan furniture enjoying the site, experiencing the sounds of nature and scents of the country air. Another two feeders were on each end of the deck, one in a Coulter Pine branch and another in a Torrey Pine branch on the other side. One day a friend of mine and I were sitting outside at about 7:00 am in the morning. It was warm and humid since it was the peak of the Monsoon Season coming up from Mexico. And I swear to you, we counted over 70 Hummingbirds and with great effort to make sure we were correct. The sound was like being near a giant Bumble Bee Hive. The cat was freaked out. Those pictures above are no exaggeration. I have no idea where they all came from or how they received or understood information about my Oasis of a place that day, but there they all were. One of the funniest things was watching the usual dominant King of the Roost resident male who was there all the time chasing visitors off his declared domain. He finally gave up in frustration and no doubt exhaustion and lighted on a small apple sapling that had volunteered years previous but did nothing but give this little guy his favourite perch for surveillance.

On another occasion week we had these two outsider Hummers who you could tell traveled and always did things together. They were really entertaining and funny and this resident male didn't like them. He chased them away continually. I called them "The Brothers". Okay, what do I know, they could have been husband and wife. But this one day they developed this strategy of one of them zooming in as a decoy and being chased off to the left while the other flew in from the right a took a big swig of nectar. Then he gets chased off to the right and the other who was the first decoy would zoom in back from the left and take his turn in a long refreshing drink. The scene went on and on. That was in 2000. It offered several entertaining moments when I came home tired from work or before I went to work each day. Here's the picture of the house and deck. It's a bit hidden by some of the shrubbery but you get the idea.

Photo: Mine

This is an example of my Rattan Papasan swivel rocketing chair with the heavy duty canvas cushion pillow in the middle. Perfect Deck nature watching chair. Man I miss that chair!!! Once again projects like these are not only an investment in your property, but an investment in your physical and spiritual health. Everyone in these later days needs an escape and there is nothing more relaxing and wholesome as creating a mini paradise right in your own backyard.

Hydraulic Engineering of All Forest Ecosystems

Hydraulic Lift & Redistribution!

"Earth's Internat Blog -  Dawson's Lab

The above animated illustration is something similar to the one that comes from Todd Dawson's website which I have already written about on my other blog where I profile a post on the man and some of his amazing research finding.

"Earth's Internet"

Clearly the average adult as well as young students need illustrative animations to allow otherwise difficult natural phenomena to be illustrated in terms they can graps and relate to in every day life. Hopefully we'll attempt to entertain with models that go well beyond that of mere 'eye candy'.

Todd Dawson is known for his work regarding a natural phenomena which occurs in forest soils healthy ecology called "Hydraulic Lift & Redistribution" where a specific key mature foundational older growth trees in any ecosystem has the ability to sink roots down to depths of water table or where large amounts of moisture are located in the subsoil and lift this water from deep subsurface levels in the earth and pull it upwards through their large vertical tap roots then proceed to redistribute along a plumbing grid horizontally which in turn releases moisture into a mycorrhizal Fungal network which itself is connected to other shallow rooted plants who in turn receive the benefits of being a signed up customer to this elaborately constructed Water Co.  
What we gardeners can learn from the natural world helps us when constructing our own Landscaping layout when it's in the planning stages.  Take a look at this video done by another researcher named Suzanne W. Simard Professor Department of Forest Sciences  of the University of British Columbia who created this video explaining how interconnected plants are in a forest.

Suzanne W. Simard Professor Department of Forest Sciences


I love her honest intelligent approach to this observation of just how underground networks are really incredibly complex and defy the conventional modern day Darwinian outlook which actually shackles researchers from going farther to consider if there maybe is something more brilliant about the constructs of any forested ecosystem. Thus far, conventional Agriculture, Forestry, Landscping, and so forth have steadily ruined this planet and many such as Professor Suzanne Simard are opening their long held viewpoints to something more being here. Clearly the Science Based techonolgies of the so-called "Green Revolution" from the early 1950s where chemicals and the Big Scientific Based Industrial Bohemoths that manufacture them were some of the worst ideas created by conventional scientific understanding.  Many modern day researchers are saying, hey wait a minute, this is how nature really functions, maybe instead of boasting about how we can improve on it, we show rather replicate it and work with it, not against it. 

"These plants are really not individuals in the sense that Darwin thought they were individuals competing for survival of the fittest, in fact they're interacting with each other trying to help each other survive."

In my other blog - 

Earth's Internet & Natural Networking

I actually take a close and a more in depth look into the technicalities of how Earth's underground Mycorrhizal Network actually functions, should be respected by us and replicated in and around our personal environments and beyond. 

This is what I'm trying to get across to planners of incredible landscapes. To the modern home gardeners who want an organic approach that allows them choices that Industrial agriculture does not. Whether you are a hobby gardener or professional landscaper, taking the mycorrhizal networked grid into consideration will go along way in making a healthy success of your project without ever having to use chemical fertilizers or pesticides. That blog there addresses subject matters a little deeper than here. So enjoy the tutorial on "Earth's Internet"

Attracting Beneficial Insects With Beautiful Landscape

Image - Watershed Nursery

When ever I plan a landscape, it's almost always with natives to the area and for the purpose of helping out the native wildlife in the process. While I certainly want an appealing eye candy pleasing to the senses look, I also want to provide food sources, housing habitat and other foraging and cover components for which numerous critters can compliment and actually take care of your landscape or garden for you. Here's a picture of one from my old property in the Mountains above Anza , California. First this variety of Cal-Coffeeberry is listed as 'Mount San Bruno' or even another one which is a little bigger and known for producing a lot of beautiful berries is 'eve case'. This variety is known for being a low grower and remains small in form. The one in the picture below under a Jeffrey Pine (Pinus jeffreya) is approximately 24 years old. Not bad for a little shrub. It has a bigger brother high up on that same bank, though I'm not sure you'll notice it.

image: Mine

I chose this shrub and it's larger variety at the top for the obvious reasons. It's evergreen and from it's appearance at the top photo, you'll notice it has the characteristic berries which ripen unevenly throughout the season giving variety of colouring with gold, green, red and purple. Any shrub in the backcountry of Southern California helps out the ground loving birds like Quail, California Thrashers, California Towhee, Hermit Thrush and Even the common Scrub Jay. The Scrub Jays apparently love the berries. I didn't realize that at first, though I had seen them in the bush. It was one spring when everything was blooming that I notice under a couple of my Manzanitas that there were multiple Coffeeberry Seedlings which had germinated under the dander(or mulch layer) of those Manzanitas. I thought to myself, 'how kool', but before I could transplant any of them, the pathogen which causes damping off kept the understory of the Manzanita weed free and they all died at the root collar. No matter, it was an interesting and educational experience none the less. 

When planting your natives no matter where you are, take into consideration the "Earth's Internet" (mycorrhizal networked associations)  which will allow your plants to benefit from the mycorrhizae grid network. I have never planted these past two decades a native or any other ornamental plant without first providing an inoculent of endo-mycorrhizae inoculent into the mix. I also never amend the soil. It's not necessary. Simply apply a generous layer of compost or mulch around the plant's immediate perimeter. This prevents water loss and weed control for the young plant. also, when you visit the Nursery, resist the temptation to purchase a 5 gallon over a one gallon plant just because you want instant landscape. I understand the impatience, I fight it all the time as well. But a small one gallon will eventually out perform in my experience.

One pleasant surprise I wasn't counting on at all, were all of the insects for which those not so showy flowers(as you can see from the top pic) were attracting, specifically in the Gnat, fly, bee, wasp, mosquito, beetle and some butterfly families to what are not at all again a showy flower. What I did notice was a sticky substance around the leaves of the flower cluster which for the most part are a dull inconspicuous green. Nothing at all fancy or attractive about them. Well not to a human anyway.  There must have been some type of aroma or fragrance given off by the plant that drove those critters nuts because they were climbing and fumbling all over themselves to get a turn at the feeding trough. I couldn't smell it though. What was unusual was to see the phenomenal numbers and the variety of insects that didn't seem to normally hang out together, let alone climb all over each other in such masses. One bright spot I noticed were the numerous tiny parasitic wasps, not the usual giant mud wasps, paper wasps or ground dwelling Yellow Jackets we all flee from (they were there also of course) , but it was those tiny fellows, the ones that lay eggs on the backs of grubs, worms or caterpillars and keep their numbers from decimating your vegetable gardens. Here's an example of the type I'm referring to.

Okay, you get the picture now, but this next photo below is what they can do for your garden.

Image by Garden to Table

As everyone knows, Tomato Hornworms can be devastating to any garden if left unchecked. On that note I have seen where commercial agricultural ventures like Vineyards are now planting rows of Lavender Plants which allow attract all manner of pollinators, but especially good food sources for these beneficial predator wasp insects during the summer months and it's working. Several Vineyards in  Northern California have reported not having to use pesticides anymore. The main predator valued is any number of tiny predatory wasp which seek out and lay their eggs on the backs of caterpillar pests. These wasps do not feed on other insects, but their young do. They however do feed on nectar to sustain themselves and if such resources are absent, they won't be anywhere near your garden. Now interestingly, Charles Darwin found the life cycle of this wasp a little creepy and offere it was proof that a loving God didn't exist. And his followers have followed in his footsteps with a dogma strategy called "Argument From Poor Design" which fails miserable and has unfortunately trashed nature as flawed and badly design. This has been disastrous as it has held good science back in leanring about how nature works and pursuing a more ecological approach to pest management. Instead we have been gifted by lousy science with all manner of toxic chemical pesticies. I'm not saying Darwin's question ws not legit. It it, but it's not a scientific one which can be experimented for using his metaphysics.

Image by George Sherman

The bottom line is, when planning for garden or landscape, remember such plants as California Coffeeberry which is a native. There are surely other ecosystems and plants that work equally well in other states or even countries of the world. Where ever you live, be observant of the nature around you when you're out walking and ask questions of local experts or nurserymen. Ask friends or nieghbours who you know for sure are adept and prolific at greenthumb gardening. I'm sure with the info available these days, they most assuredly are up to scratch on the latest organic methods. BTW, for your information, that photo above right is a commercial Vineyard whose owners planted Lavender which flower all summer long and attract beneficial parasitic wasps which allows them to not have to spray pesticides. Even some commercial growers are getting in on the Biomimicy game and saving not only money, but building a better and healthier product in the process.