It makes sense that many gardeners love birds; most gardeners love nature. One of the most popular bird species gardeners plant for are the hummingbirds. For us in the midwestern United States, we only get one type of these small wonders; the Ruby-throated Hummingbird. Which is enough to fuel gardeners to plant native flora just for them!
One great example we found is thisWisconsin master gardener who writes about her passion for hummingbirds in a blog called The Hummingbird Garden (and took some cool Baltimore Oriole photos). Having a native garden of “bird food” is just one more way we can help conserve our birds.
Wild Class Nature Center mentions “bird-scaping” (which, of course, is the only way to landscape). They wrote a very stylish article on hummingbirds and list a few common favorites such as Bee balm, Bergamot, Columbine, and Red salvia.
At the Callaway Nature Preserve we currently have Wild Columbine (Aquilegia canadensis) blooming and hope to have these tiny wonders in our yard soon!
Posted on my blog my big garden! I only wish I had more time to do more great flower things like what you have! Maybe one of these days!! Great post and love them hummingbirds!
Thanks so much! We were astounded when the Wild Columbines we planted last year came back with so much vigor! I think that they grow really well in this area.
I try to add bird friendly stuff to the garden every year.-Only some of it survives though.-My thumb is not as green as it should be.