I just found this forum and thought "here is where I can find answers" I have never fed hummingbird before. I just moved into a house with a very large livingroom window. I thought since I am not able to get around much I would enjoy watching the birds. I just got my hummingbird feeders (5) out this past weekend. I saw one yesterday and one today.
Just from reading other posts, I have learned alot already. But I would like to know how to attract them. I can't do any gardening, but I can plant in pots. Can someone tell me what I can plant that would attract them? Or offer any other do's and don'ts I should know? I live in Western Washington. thank you

Sandy

Welcome Sandy! You will really love watching the hummingbirds. I don't know about plants for Washington so will let someone else answer that part of your question.

I wanted to make sure knew to only use white sugar. Do not use red food coloring. Use a 4:1 ratio. You don't have to boil the water. I just use hot water and sugar and shake it up. Then I refrigerate it and put it in the feeders when cold.

Enjoy watching the hummers and this forum!

Carol

Carol R
Tennessee
USDA Hardiness Zone 7
Heat Zone 7

We had a member that lived in an apartment and had quite a garden on her balcony. I am terrible with names so I can't remember hers. Penny, Dianne, have we heard from her lately?

Linda
ne AL
zone 7b

Welcome to the forum Sandy! Hummers love bright colors, especially red and yellow. One even hovered around the yellow logo on my husband's baseball cap one day, lol!

Maryjane
W Ga
Zone 8a

I believe her name was Jenn and she lived in a high rise in Philadelphia. It must be a couple of year since she checked in.

Thanks, Ward

Linda
ne AL
zone 7b

Sandy
Welcome to the forum and we are glad to have you. What part of the country are you located in? That way we have a better idea of some plants that will do well in pots for you. Nectar plants and feeders with plain sugar water (no commercial red stuff) is the best way to encourage them to visit provided there are trees and shrubs close by for perching, nesting and protection. Whatever else you would like to share with us about your surroundings etc. will help us to give your better suggestions. (don't worry we are a very safe and family friendly group).

Yes Ward is right, Jenny was our High Rise Gardener and if memory serves me correctly she lived on the 18th floor. She grew flowers, shrubs and vines with now problem all in containers. I think she is a bio chemist or something like that and stays quite busy but she did stop in briefly last summer.

Penny
Niagara Falls, NY
USDA zone 6a/6b
Heat zone 4
Sunset zone 39

Sandy,

Here's a list of this forum's favorite hummer plants. http://www.network54.com/Forum/439743/thread/1179168898/Your+personal+top+5+hummer+plants
I have grown Agastaches and Salvia's in pots and they grew big and healthy. You could even grow some of the smaller vines in pots if you have somethig for them to climb on like Cardinal Flower Vine, Morning Glory's, candy corn vines.

Patrick will chime in when he logs on, he's in Washington somewhere....ah Sea Tec I believe.

Penny,

Sandy is in Western Washington. I doble read her post b4 I realised she posted here whereabouts! LOL

Pam NJ 6B

Sandy a big old welcome for a cold southeast Alabama. Glad to have you with us. Penny and Ward you are right Jenny was our high dwelling hummingbird lover. I don't believe we have heard from her an a long time. It was always amazing to me what she grew and the hummingbirds she attracted.

O. K Patrick where are you. Give this lady some advise on hummingbird plants.

Dianne
Southeast Alabama
Heat Zone 8
Sunset Zone 31

Thank you all..I am reading all the posts and learning lots! I will check back often and see if Patrick has offered any info... Thank you again !!

Pam thanks for telling me....I apologize Sandy that I missed that you posted your location.



Penny
Niagara Falls, NY
USDA zone 6a/6b
Heat zone 4
Sunset zone 39

Hi Sandy, good to see another westerner.

I grow a lot in pots for the deck and many of the great Hummingbird plants do fine in containers.

One of mine and the Hummingbirds favorites is Chilean Glory Vines, they just love it in a pot and can grow twelve feet in a season from seed and there perennial here.

Another nice vine is Candy Corn Vine, there a shorter bushier vine, there available at some nurseries.

How about Fuchsia 'Gartenmeister Bonstedt,' or Fuchsia 'Thalia?' Both are good varieties for hummingbirds and do well in pots. I think they would also like the pacific northwestern climate. There are probably some other good fuchsias--Patrick will know!

Cupheas are also good and do well in pots. Cuphea 'David Verity' is supposed to be fantastic, but can you believe I never saw a hummingbird on one when I grew it last year? Don't let that discourage you, though, everyone says their hummingbirds are all over them, and I believe it. Maybe I somehow missed the visits. They were all over my Cuphea micropetala, a larger plant that I grew in a great big pot.

I also grow Dicliptera suberecta in a pot every year, and the hummingbirds like it very much. It has interesting, fuzzy, blue gray foliage and upright clusters of orange flowers. Very nice!

Smaller Salvia coccineas like 'Dwarf Hummingbird' or 'Lady in Red' are definite favorites, and they don't need a huge container.

I imagine some of the smaller cannas would also do well in pots.

Steptocarpella is another one, but I'm trying it for the first time this year, so can't personally vouch for it. I think Patrick may have grown that one too and will have an opinion.

Enough for now. If you grow even one or two of these, your hummers will go crazy!

Hi Sandy, and Welcome. You had me confused when I saw this post. Only Kidding .

At least our locations are not confusing.



birdlegs
zone 5
S.E. Lower MI.

A lot can be done in a small area. Here's a small picture of my balcony back in 1998:



Other photos of my balcony can be found at the following sites I created back then:
http://rowdy13.tripod.com/hummeryard.html
http://rowdy13.tripod.com/balcony.html
http://rowdy13.tripod.com/balcony1999.html
http://rowdy13.tripod.com/balcony3.html
http://rowdy13.tripod.com/yard.html

Steve Backes
Valrico, FL (east of Tampa)
http://mysite.verizon.net/resu64md/yardhummers/

Welcome to you. If it all seems confusing at first just keep logging in and reading, we all help each other figure it out. We learn from each other's triumphs -- and mistakes!!
An easy plant to start with is a hanging fuchsia. They can usually be found at any place that sells plants and very often come already to hang. And now is a wonderful time to start because hummingbirds are just beginning to migrate north and will be very grateful for any blooms or feeders they find.
Good Luck and Enjoy!
Linda V
Connecticut zone 6b

welcome Sandy!!!!!!!!!!!

Steve B,

Your balcony is AWESOME!!!
You certainly have a hummer haven there...

Susan Louise
from Branford CT/ live in Lincoln NE
Zone 5