My summer commitment to the hummingbirds involves two things: salvias for food and water for refreshing. I include both in the summer garden and am rewarded with the beauty and antics of the tiny birds.
Did you know that a hummingbird will feed five to 10 times per hour for 30 to 60 seconds? And they really don’t sip nectar or water. Their long little tongues absorb moisture like a paper towel soaks up water.
A hummingbird favorite is salvia ‘Royal Bumble.’ Vivid red flowers, laden with nectar, bloom heavily from summer through late autumn. Black calyxes and stems make the flowers especially attractive. Mounds of bright green foliage grow up to 3 feet tall and about as wide. They are hardy to 25 F.
Mexican sage, Salvia leucantha, is also a hummingbird favorite. From late summer until the first hard frost of winter, long wands of fuzzy purple and white flowers smother mounds of foliage. Hummingbirds love this salvia best of all. Plants are bold, making mounds 4 feet tall and equally as wide. Plants are hardy to 30 F. They die back once hit by frost, but they usually come back in late spring when the soil warms up.
In addition to nectar laden salvias, I provide water. A small bubbling bird bath attracts all birds, but hummers especially like the movement of water. A little pump bubbles the water up a few inches from the surface. Hummers love to flit around this water source. They also like to bathe in the water like other birds. However, hummers are attracted to the bubbling of water, so that is a must if you want to have them visit the fountain.
The most important thing to consider when providing water for birds is to keep the fountain clean and refreshed daily. Hummers are not ones for mucking things up, but the bigger birds that frequent the fountain can make things messy.
Terry Kramer is the retired site manager for the Humboldt Botanical Garden and a trained horticulturist and journalist. She has been writing a garden column for the Times-Standard since 1982. She currently runs a gardening consulting business. Contact her at 707-834-2661 or terrykramer90@gmail.com.