Plants to attract Hummingbirds

[turttle]

Originally Posted by BooBooBearBecky

Teresa,
Your native honeysuckles (Lonicera semperviren) are sooooooo pretty.
It must be fun to watch all the hummingbirds they attract!

I looked up Lonicera sempervirens on the web. It says Lonicera sempervirens can be grown in sun or part shade.

Are any of your native honeysuckles growing in part shade? If so, how are they doing?

I have three different cultivars of Lonicera sempervirens that I planted this year in part shade and none of them are doing all that well. They survived but didn't grow much. Maybe it is just that it is the first year. The passionflower (incarnata/maypops) that I planted at the same time in the same area started smaller and has spread enormously. Climbing aster does okay in part shade.

[will-o-wisp]

I have one native honeysuckle (yellow) growing in a part shade position and it blooms beautifully but only once in the late spring/early summer. (Ignore the Japanese Maple, I'm not allowed to remove it).
All the rest are in sunny spots and bloom on and off until a hard frost,
The down side, in the sunnier spots, the early aphid attack is severe and disfiguring.
This year there were 2 sequential attacks; just when they had recovered and were starting to bloom again the second assault began.
It took about 3 years after planting for the honeysuckles to reach any substantial size.
The lone hummingbird that visits them appeared today while I was outside.

[suunto]

Originally Posted by Gloria

suunto, I have a friend that grows crossvine in North east Georgia. She belongs to a group that is working on a swampy nature center in her area. She loves the crossvine. Says it is not aggressive enough in her garden to cause problems and it blooms nicely in part shade.

Thank you for that information, Gloria, especially the bit about it not being particularly aggressive - years ago, I had a very bad experience with a non-native trumpet vine; a mistake I hope never to repeat!

[turttle]

Thanks, Will-o-the-Wisp, for letting me know to be patient. My honeysuckles have only been in the ground since the spring. It is good to know that if I give them time, they'll fill in (assuming they can deal with my clay soil and misc insects that might want to eat them.)

[ButterflyLinda]

I like White Honeysuckle, Lonicera alba...it's SO pretty when blooming!

[JulieRaeJ]

Hummers really like Penstemon-both P. digitalis & P. grandiflorus. It amazes me that they choose the digitalis considering the unpleasant (to humans) aroma it emits!

[will-o-wisp]

It always amazes me what the hummers are attracted to in individual gardens.
I have a large amount of penstemon but never have seen a hummer near any JulieRaeJ.

I gifted a relative a number of plants from divisions of my plants and offered to plant them over the weekend. She has a very small garden in front of her garden apartment filled with mainly a large patch of impatiens. Imagine my surprise when a hummingbird visited the impatiens patch as I was planting.
It makes me think that placement is critical. There weren't any other flowers blooming on the long expanse of lawn and there also weren't any obstructions because it was the tallest plant in front of evergreens. It also was the only patch of bright color.

[dapjwy]

Originally Posted by JulieRaeJ

Hummers really like Penstemon-both P. digitalis & P. grandiflorus. It amazes me that they choose the digitalis considering the unpleasant (to humans) aroma it emits!

Remind me next year to sniff my P. digitalis...I've never noticed any scent--unpleasant or not. I'll have to check it.

[ButterflyLinda]

I went out and cut off the Flame Acanthus seeded parts...maybe it'll start blooming again. The hummers need Flame Acanthus! Unfortunately the Firebush is late...should be blooming already!