Not Just Red Plants Attract Hummingbirds

Red is a color that is well known to attract the hummingbirds, but it is far from the only color you can use to entice the hummingbirds to your yard. A wide variety of other colors including pink, purple, orange, yellow, white and others will also do so quite nicely. This post will explain why color choice is not the most important consideration when selecting plants that will entice the hummingbirds to visit your yard.

The plants or flowers you select should have a long season of overlapping bloom. This includes plants such as petunias, annual red salvia, autumn sage and shrimp plants, or the firebush.

It is extremely important to select a wide variety of plants which are known to attract hummingbirds. You will want the flowers you choose to bloom different times so there will always be something flowering.

Did you know that the flowers you choose will serve two very important purposes? Well, they will. They will provide a source of nectar for the hummingbirds, and they will also attract insects on which the birds will feed.

The colors of the flowers or plants you select are not what is of the greatest importance to a hummingbird when it comes to selecting a food source. So, what is the most important consideration to a hummingbird? To a hummingbird what is far more important when choosing a food source is the quantity and quality of the nectar which is available. As a result, the hummingbird will select the flower with the highest nectar output and the richest concentration of sugars, regardless of the shape or color of the flower. The taste of the nectar is also far more important then the color of the flower.

When choosing flowers and plants to attract hummingbirds, red is not the only color to use. Choose flowers or plants in a wide variety of colors and you will not only have a beautiful and brightly colored yard but you will provide a wonderful food source for the hummingbirds.