Hummingbirds are Pollinators!

Sat, 22 Mar 2014 20:39:38 +0000

We’re lucky here at Perennial Favorites, we have four species of hummingbirds that visit our gardens and nursery each summer: rufous, broad-tailed, black-chinned, and calliope. The hummingbirds are a joy to watch, and they provide a very useful service, too. They are primary pollinators of some of our native flowers. Some people think that hummingbirds only like red flowers, but that isn’t the case. They are attracted to red flowers, true, where bees are not, but they will drink from purple and yellow and orange flowers, too. Since bees don’t see the color red, the hummers are important pollinators of native plants like the Southwestern varieties of agastaches and red salvias. Here’s a hummingbird at Agastache rupestris, here in the nursery.

Hummingbird at Salvia ‘Hot Lips.’ Picture by Carol Rich, Portland, OR.

When I saw this picture of Salvia ‘Hot Lips’ I knew it was a plant we needed to grow. We plan to have lots of these at the nursery this spring.

There’s a hummingbird garden here at the nursery, and starting in late April, the hummers are our constant companions. Plant some hummingbird plants near your patio or deck, or even in a big pot on your deck, and find out how much fun they are to watch. We planted this purple flowered agastache in a big barrel and the hummers and the butterflies loved it!

Hummingbird at Agastache ‘Black Adder’

Many of our native penstemons (AKA Beardtongue) are also pollinated by hummingbirds. Some of my favorites, including P. barbatus and P. pseudospectabilis, are also favorites of the hummers. By providing this natural nectar buffet, we entice them to nest here and raise their babies. They are so tiny when they hatch! Usually there are two eggs in each nest. Here are two young ones we saw last summer, their little beaks pointing up, waiting for mom to bring food.

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Salvia ‘Hot Lips’ – Perennial Favorites

Hummingbirds are Pollinators!