Chuck Martin: Native menu for hummingbirds

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It has been said that the two best things about having guest at your home is (1) before they get there and (2) after they leave.

This reminds me of gardeners who want to attract wildlife to their homes and prepare their gardens to be a smorgasbord of attractive food, water and lodging.

The problem comes when the party crashing wildlife overeats or stays too long. We only want to invite certain guests and when the party gets wild, by the party crashing wildlife, we look for answers to get rid of these rude critters.

Because of this double edged sword of inviting wildlife guests into our landscapes I am often asked two questions. The first is how I write out invitations to attract wildlife. The second is how I get rid of the rude, overeating wildlife guests.

One animal that I have never been asked to get rid of is hummingbirds. I have been asked what plants will attract hummingbirds for food and nesting material. My guess is that hummingbirds must be good guests and don’t outstay their welcome. Watching them in my yard they like a good fight with the other hummingbird guests.

So if you want to invite hummingbirds to your home and you want to set food that they would enjoy, I’ll tell you what to put on the menu. Since there is a large menu of plants to their liking and I only have a limited amount of space, I am going to concentrate on a native themed menu.

The first native I would like to write about is the Cardinal flower (Lobelia cardinalis). It is often used as an ornamental perennial because of bright red scarlet flowers. To picture the brightness of the color, check out the vestments worn by the Roman Catholic Cardinals during the pope’s coronation.

In the spring the plant will be a clump of basal leaves and then mid-summer a flower stalk will shoot up that can reach four feet depending on the health of the plant. The red flowers will open from the bottom to the top over several weeks.  Humming birds are highly attracted to the nectar in these flowers.

Cardinal Flower loves moisture and so if you have a wet low area, this is the plant for you. Plants also enjoy the habitat along streams and ponds. If you put them in a good habitat they will self-seed and naturalize. The more moisture you give them the more sun they will take. They enjoy a partial shade but the soil needs to be kept moist.

Cardinal flower tends to be a short lived perennial. My belief is it is because in the nursery they are selling plants from a southern seed source. I highly suggest buying Cardinal flower from a local native nursery or native plant sale.

At the other end of culture spectrum from the wet, moist soil to the dry, sandy soil you will find the butterfly weed (Asclepias tuberosa). Butterfly weed is very distinctive with its bright orange flowers. There is a variation in the flower color with hues of yellow and orange.

This is a member of the milkweed genus but don’t worry about sap running out when you bruise the plant. As the name suggests you will not only attract hummingbirds but you will have party crashing butterflies. Monarchs might stay longer, lay eggs and call it home.

You will find blue lupine (Lupinus perennis) growing in full sun and dry soils. Because of their location it was first thought that blue lupine robbed or depleted the soil of mineral content. This robbing was termed “wolfing” and thus the genus botanical name lupus.

In fact this plant enhances the soil by fixing atmospheric nitrogen in the soil that is useful for other plants. So you are not only feeding the hummingbirds but helping your other garden plants. Another bonus of planting blue lupine is that they play a crucial role in the life cycle of many butterflies including Michigan’s endangered Karner Blue butterfly.

A popular plant among gardeners is the Red Beebalm (Monarda didyma). Its bright midsummer scarlet flowers are a magnet in attracting hummingbirds. Because beebalms are susceptible to powdery mildew they preform best in full sun. Give the plants a good amount of organic matter to keep the soil moist especially in the heat of the summer. The plant will form clusters by spreading through underground stems known as stolons.

It is hard to believe that hummingbirds love the tiny little flowers of the Coral Bells or Alumroot (Heuchera Americana). Most gardeners select Coral Bells for their attractive foliage but hummingbirds go for the flowers.

In fact many gardeners cut off the flowers feeling they are a distraction to the foliage. The nectar in the flowers is more important to the hummingbirds than the tablecloth of the leaves. Coral Bell plants are very adaptable to their surroundings since they will grow in both sun and shade and will tolerate a wide range of soils.

Foamflower (Tiarella cordifolia) is a plant that is closely related to Coral Bells. In fact you can find plants in the nursery that are a cross between the two called Foamy Bells (x Heucherella). The flowers are more substantial on Foamflower with a frothy appearance. The leaves like Coral Bells are striking and the plant makes an attractive groundcover. Mature plants send out runners and so the plants will fill in an area quickly.

Gardeners will often shy away from vines in fear that they will take over their landscape and “devour” their pets and children. There are a couple of native vines that are not overly aggressive and can be used to cover up your fence or the junk pile. Red Honeysuckle (Lonicera dioca) and Coral Honeysuckle (Lonicera sempervirens) are two hummingbird magnets.

Looking at the botanical name you might think that the Red Honeysuckle is dioecious and need two plants to produce fruit. Carl Linnaeus thought that too when he was naming it. He was wrong.

A hated plant by everyone in the spring when it is blooming is Cottonwood (Populus deltoids). The floating cotton that spread the seeds is used by hummingbirds for their nesting. If you want hummingbirds to have a soft bed don’t hate on this plant too much. Another plant family that Hummers use for nesting are the ferns. When ferns unfurl in the spring the little hairs on the stem will be harvested by Hummers.

If you are ready to entertain a few hummingbirds and don’t mind them staying around for the summer, these plants might help you give them a native menu.

Chuck Martin was a senior horticulturist at Dow Gardens for 39 years and is writing a weekly column about gardening. If you have a question or suggestion for a future article, email it to him at riverhaven772@gmail.com.