Category: Hummingbird Food

 

Hummingbirds are very small bird with a large appetite. The amount of nectar that a hummingbird must intake each day is dependent on a number of factors including activity level, air temperature, quality of available resources, and time of year. The hummingbird will require one and a half times its body weight in nectar to meet its daily energy needs.

In their quest for nectar, they will visit 1000 flowers per day and they usually feed between six and eight times in an hour, but each feeding usually last less then 30 seconds in length. The hummingbird can digest nectar very rapidly and efficiently. The nectar will pass entirely through the hummingbird’s digestive system in less than 20 minutes! 

Due to the large amount of fluid a hummingbird will intake each day, a hummingbird’s daily urine output may exceed 80 percent of its body weight, whenever nectar is found to be plentiful.

 According to the San Diego Zoo website, hummingbirds consume between 3.14 and 7.6 calories per day. I don’t know about you but I find that fact absolutely astonishing! Humans are said to consume approximately 3,500 calories per day. If humans had the metabolism of a hummingbird it would be necessary for us to consume approximately 155,000 calories per day. That’s about 77 times as much as most humans eat. The hummingbird’s need to consume such a vast amount of calories is due to their high heart rate and small body size.  

The Scarlet Runner Bean is a unique plant and vegetable which you can use to attract hummingbirds. Yes, it is considered to be both a plant and a vegetable! The purpose of this post is to help you discover the Scarlet Runner Bean for yourself. It is my hope that it will become another resource to help you attract more hummingbirds to your yard and garden.

 

The Scarlet Runner Bean originated in Central America. It was first grown in sixteenth-century Europe as an ornamental vine. The Scarlet Runner Bean was introduced in the United Sates in the early 1800’s. It was not until later in that century that the Scarlet Runner Bean began being used for culinary purposes. Many people today consider this bean a gourmet vegetable. 

 

This unique veining plant and vegetable has many uses. It can be used as a way to add both color and fun to your garden. The bean is also eatable. The bean is said to have a crispy taste and to be quite delicious. The bean can be used in many culinary dishes, including stir-fry and salads.

 

This vine is supposed to be easy to grow. If you wish to grow it, you would plant it like any other bean, about 1/2 inch deep in the soil. It is also suggested that you plant about three beans in a small mound and that you make sure to have a trellis or some other type of support for the vine to grow up. If you are also growing sunflowers, then you can plant the seeds near the base of taller varieties of sunflowers and let them vine up the sunflower plants.

 

The flowers of this plant are scarlet in color and are very delicate looking and glow when the sun hits them. The foliage of this vine is a lush green color. Keeping the beans picked with help ensure that the vines will flower continuously all season.

 

If you are looking for something that is quite unique and different to plant in your garden which will help attract the hummingbirds to your yard, please consider the Scarlet Runner Bean. If you are interested in furter information on this unique plant and vegetable, please consult your local plant nursery or horticultural society for further information on the subject.

 

When using hanging baskets to attract hummingbirds, there are other considerations besides specific plant characteristics that you must consider if you are to have success at it. This is what this today’s blog post will help you discover. After all, your goal is to try and attract the hummingbirds and to try and entire them to feed while visiting your plants. That is how this particular topic relates to hummingbird feeding, so I hope you will keep these suggestions in mind if you should decide to try using hanging baskets as a way to try and draw the hummingbirds to your yard.

 

You will want to consider the type of planter that you will use. There are many varieties of planters available. The most popular hanging planters are made of wire, terra cotta, glazed ceramic, wood or plastic. One choice is a wire mesh basket lined with sphagnum moss and filled with potting soil.   Another choice is the use of unglazed terra cotta pots. With this type of flower pot, you must water them frequently and hang them securely from a sturdy support. 

 

Ceramic hanging pots come in many colors, including red or orange, which can be used to attract hummingbirds. This type of planter often has a saucer to catch water and therefore help the plant retain moisture. You can also use wooden containers that have been painted red or orange and that are made from rot resistant redwood, cedar or cypress. Plastic pots are another alternative in which to create your hanging baskets, because they are lightweight, versatile and affordable.

 

It is also important to remember that any type of hanging basket will weigh more when wet than when it is not wet.   It is important that the hanging basket be fastened securely overhead with sturdy hooks or screw eyes over a strong support. If your pot doesn’t have its own hanger, use galvanized wire or chain to suspend it from the desired location. Make sure to place the hanging basket in a spot that will offer enough support for the plant and won’t place too much stain on the surface below.

 

Hanging baskets are a simple, effective and space-saving way for anyone to attract hummingbirds to their yard. It is my hope that the information contained here will help you realize that you too can enjoy seeing hummingbirds in your yard, no matter how limited the amount of space available to you.

Even if you don’t have a lot of space in which to plant flowers, you can easily and effectively attract hummingbirds through the use of hanging baskets. This is a simple and effective way to beautify your yard and attract one of nature’s most amazing creatures. It is my hope that the information which follows will help you to discover how to effectively use hanging baskets as a way to attract and enjoy these truly amazing birds.

 

It is very important that you select the right flowers. You will want to choose flowers that will thrive in hanging baskets and that will also attract the hummingbirds.

 

You will want to select plants that have nectar-rich tubular shaped blooms on them. Plants such as penstemon, salvia and petunia are excellent choices, because the hummingbirds can easily access the nectar due to their long, narrow bills and tongues.

 

The plant form is also very important. You will want to select flowers that stick out from a plant’s foliage, by either protruding or dangling. This is important because hummingbirds normally feed while hovering, so this will provide ample air space so the birds’ beating wings easily clear any leaves.

 

The plants you select for use in your hanging baskets should offer a wide variety of color. Many people often associate the color red with helping to attract hummingbirds. Red is a color which hummingbirds can see from a great distance, so offering flowers that are nectar-rich and come in various shades of red should always attract their attention. However, flowers of almost any color, including orange, pink, purple, white and yellow will also attract hummingbirds and cause them to feed from these nectar-rich plants.

 

The quantity of blooms a plant produces will also play an important role in attracting hummingbirds. When selecting plants, you will want to choose plants with multiple flowers in open clusters. These types of plants are more appealing than plants like hibiscus that feature a small selection of large blooms.

 

You will also want to consider the bloom time of the plants you select. Choosing plants that have a long bloom time will help provide the hummingbirds with a source of nectar for an extended length of time. Another way to ensure that the hummingbirds will always have a source of nectar is to select plants that have staggered bloom times.

 

By following these very simple suggestions, you can beatify your yard and effectively attract the hummingbirds. So, don’t let a limited amount of space prevent you from beautifying your yard and attracting the hummingbirds. You will be glad that you discovered how to effectively use hanging baskets and the hummingbirds will also be thrilled with your discovery. 

 

I can tell you from personal experience just how effectively hanging baskets can be used to attract the hummingbirds, because when my mom was still alive we had them all around our yard. The flowers and plants provided our yard with an explosion of bright, vivid colors and the hummingbirds would swarm to them. Another reason my mom loved to use hanging baskets was because she could have such a wide variety of plants all around the yard. 

 

Hanging baskets are an easy and relatively inexpensive way to beautify any yard and they have the added benefit of helping to attract the hummingbird. If you want to attract the hummingbirds in a more natural way, why not give the use of hanging baskets a try?