Favorite Hummingbird Plants

Ruby-throated hummingbird sipping nectar from dwarf firebush flower. Photo by Glenda Simmons.

Late summer is the peak of hummingbird activity in north Florida. Young birds of the year are off the nest and on their own. Adults and youngsters from as far north as Canada are streaming through on their southerly migration.

 Many of us see a hummingbird in our yard daily and we think of it as “our” resident friend. This is probably far from fact. Fred Dietrich, Tallahassee resident and licensed bird bander for the Hummingbird Study Group, decided to study hummingbirds in his yard during the summer of 2010. He banded 72 hummingbirds through September 25. Only two of these were recaptures. This means he had a different hummingbird every two or three days!

By the end of June the southward migration of mature males is already in full swing. Mature females and young of the season may stay into the fall or are passing through north Florida from farther north as late as mid October.

Feeders are an easy way to attract hummingbirds, but plants add interest and beauty to your yard. Of the many hummingbird plants to choose from, I have four favorites. They vary in size and sunlight requirements. Two are Florida natives.

Firebush becomes a large shrub each year, up to six feet in height and width. A south Florida native, it is covered with slender, inch long orange flowers June through October. Plant firebush in sun to light-shade and give it room to grow. Butterflies, particularly zebra longwings, also use these flowers.

Pentas is much smaller at around three feet tall by two feet wide. Colors range from white to several shades of pink to red. It blooms June until frost. Pentas, though a perennial in south Florida, does not always survive our colder winters. Protect the roots with an extra six inches of pine straw or leaf mulch over winter. Pentas likes lots of sun, but will still bloom in considerable shade. It is a favorite of butterflies as well.

For shady locations, two terrific perennials are Indian pink and cardinal guard. Indian pink is a north Florida native wildflower and grows to just two feet tall by two feet wide. It blooms every April and May with erect, red trumpets topped by a bright yellow star – a lovely addition to a woodland garden.

The other shade perennial is cardinal guard, sometimes called firespike. It has beautiful lush foliage and reaches four to six feet tall with an overall vertical form. It blooms in late summer to fall, the prime time for migrating hummingbirds. The tips of the multitude of stems sport bright red “salvia like” flower spikes. I like to plant cardinal guard near a window to watch the hummingbird activity up close.

All four of these plants die back to the ground after the first frost. At that time, you may prune off the dead stalks and compost them. An insulating layer of pine straw or leaves keeps the roots a little warmer for the pentas and firebush. Be sure to pull back the mulch in early spring so sunlight can warm the soil.

These four are my favorites but certainly aren’t your only choices for hummingbirds. Perennial blue salvias, several of the Cupheas, porterweed, the old standby shrimp plant and many others will attract hungry hummingbirds. Give your migrating hummers a dependable stopover feeding station by planting some of these beautiful plants.

Herbs in the Landscape

Each spring I teach an herb workshop that requires preparing several herbal dishes for the participants to sample. I like to use fresh, organically grown herbs. No problem! I just go out to my garden and clip whatever I need – spearmint for one recipe, rosemary, garlic chives or Greek oregano for another.

Some of my other reliable perennial herbs such as pineapple sage, lemon grass, Mexican tarragon and lemon verbena are usually dormant in early spring but reliably sprout back as the weather warms. Basil is a warm weather annual that must be re-planted in April.

All of the herbs mentioned in this article are very easy to grow; not one is finicky as long as it is planted in the right place. You do not need a special herb garden in order to grow herbs. You can place them in the existing landscape or grow them in containers.  I planted a bay laurel as part of our foundation plantings at the front of the house. The rest of the herbs are mixed in with butterfly, hummingbird and bee plants in a garden in the sun.

Most herbs such as rosemary, creeping thyme and Greek oregano need at least six hours of sun each day and well-drained soil. If you are starting a new garden by preparing a bed, mix in a generous amount of mushroom compost or homemade compost to condition the soil before planting. If your soil is mostly hard-packed clay, you may be better off planting in large containers or in a raised bed filled with a good topsoil/compost mixture.

Some herbs, like lemon balm, spearmint and others in the mint family can handle more shade. Most mints spread aggressively. For this reason, I confine my spearmint to an antique black kettle on my front steps. The kettle has a crack in it, which provides necessary drainage.

Herbs are among the prettiest of plants in our yard. Prostrate rosemary cascades over the edge of our limestone rock wall and is in bloom just about year round. Bumblebees are regular visitors to the small blue flowers. Pineapple sage sports showy red flowers in autumn which attract hummingbirds and butterflies. Bronze fennel and parsley are hosts to the caterpillar that will become the graceful black swallowtail butterfly.

Herbs are easy to grow, fragrant, attractive to wildlife and useful in cooking. They are also quite pretty in cut flower and foliage arrangements. Choose one or two herbs and get started today – you will be glad that you did.

Blueberries are easy to grow!

We planted blueberry bushes in 1983 as a present to my father-in-law for Father’s Day. It is hard to think of any plant that has consistently given us so much pleasure over the years as these blueberry bushes. And for so little care! Jack is no longer with us, but the blueberry bushes continue to delight.

Now they are 7-8 feet tall and 4-5 feet wide. In early June, they are covered with green berries that gradually turn blue as they ripen. Bring on the blueberry cobbler and fresh blueberries over vanilla ice cream.

Blueberries are easy to grow. Plant them in loose, well-drained soil in full sun to light shade. Ours are planted in a large bed that they share with tall pines which provide a nice dappled shade. They do not like wet, mucky spots and will not thrive in heavy clay soils. Blueberry bushes do well in our naturally acidic soil. Blueberries like the same kind of soil as azaleas; if azaleas do well in your yard, chances are blueberries will too, providing you have enough sun. Plant them at least six feet apart unless you are trying to create an informal hedge.

Plant at least two different varieties as they need to be cross pollinated to provide lots of fruit. Blueberries are pollinated primarily by the Southeastern blueberry bee, which looks like a small bumble bee. In addition to the hybrid rabbiteye blueberries that produce large tasty fruits, we also planted native highbush blueberries. The berries are darker and smaller, but also very tasty.

We fertilized ours yearly with an organic azalea-camellia fertilizer when they were young but now that they are mature and in large beds with natural mulch that slowly breaks down and provides nutrition, they don’t seem to need any fertilizer.

My mother-in-law, Sue Walthall, always reminded her grandchildren to get out early to “beat the birds” to the ripe berries. Of course, it’s always cooler in the morning for picking! I have such pleasant memories of picking blueberries with her and our children over the years. One child always took pride in filling up the bucket as fast as possible and the other always had a very blue mouth attesting to the fact that she ate as many as she picked.

For efficient picking, Betty Komarek from Birdsong Nature Center taught me long ago to cut open a plastic milk jug and attach it to my belt. This frees both hands for picking and you don’t have to bend over to reach the bucket.

Water, especially in the early years, is critical. Blueberry bushes produce berries while they are young, but you will not get a big crop for several years. My advice is always the same to anyone who is interested in producing fruit – get started as soon as possible and be patient! And don’t forget to water!

Jody’s Best Blueberry Cobbler:

Heat oven to 400
6 cups blueberries
3/4 cup sugar
1 tsp. cinnamon
1 1/2 cups Heart Smart Bisquick baking mix
1/2 cup milk
1 egg
3 T. melted butter

Combine blueberries, sugar and cinnamon. Pour into 9X13 baking dish, well greased. Mix remaining ingredients until blended and drop by spoonfuls onto fruit. Bake 15 minutes at 400; reduce heat to 350 and bake 10 minutes longer. Top each serving with a scoop of vanilla ice cream.