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Posted by Jeanette on 21:04:31 11/12/13
In Reply to: Female Ruby Throated Hummingbird posted by Nai
I have found that a flowering plant called Firespike (Odontonema Strictum) is a great plant for hummingbirds. The purple-pink variety and the red are both great hummer attractors and are beautiful shrubs easily grown. The purple-pink variety blooms in winter and the red is more year round. You can buy it at Richard Lyons Nursery and sometimes Canterbury Farm Nursery with the latter having much better prices. Firebush (Hamelia Patens) is the native variety and is excellent for hummers---it is the same one someone else mentioned as being called Scarlet Bush. The same plant has multiple names. It is best to get a native of this plant rather than a hybrid (found at many local stores.) Chinese Hat Plant is also excellent. It's scientific name is Holmskioldia Sanguinea. It can get very large over time. I find the hummingbirds use the flowers and feeders. I believe that when nectar flowers/nectar decreases; possibly due to cold fronts moving through, etc. the hummers start accessing the feeders more. It took two or three years of growing the right plants/providing feeders to get them to come to my yard on a regular basis. I started by buying flowering specimens of Firespikes in pots and placing them together in my backyard. This is when I first started seeing hummers in my yard.
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