Guide to Planning a Hummingbird Garden: Facts & Tips to Help You

A hummingbird's natural diet is the nectar of flowers for energy and small insects and spiders for the protein they need. Hummingbirds feed in many small meals, and therefore, they are only hours away from starving if they do not consume enough. They typically consume up to five times their own body weight in nectar each day. To consume this much, they must visit hundreds of flowers daily. These facts alone are enough to make me want to plan a hummingbird garden.

Hummingbirds spend an average of 25% of their time feeding and 75% sitting and digesting. You normally only notice hummingbirds in flight or consuming nectar, so you may not even realize how important it is to provide them with resting places. To make your yard into an inviting hummingbird garden, provide convenient perching spots such as twigs, leaf stems, branches, and even a string stretched between two trees or poles. Most hummingbirds make a cup-shaped nest on low branches of a tree or in shrubbery or bushes, so be sure to provide adequate space for nesting.

Flowers are the natural way to attract hummingbirds to your yard. Flowers should be chosen for their ability to produce nectar, to grow well in your particular region, and to be in bloom when the hummingbirds need them. Hummingbird "season" in the U.S. normally begins in February in the southern states and May in the northern states. If you plan to hang hummingbird feeders, this would be the right times to do it.

Because of the shape and size of their beaks, hummingbirds generally prefer deep-throated, tubular flowers. They are able to tell the amount of sugar in the nectar they eat, so they reject flowers with less sugar and prefer the ones that has more sugar . Since they have no sense of smell, the flowers that attract them tend to have little or no fragrance, but instead are attracted to red, orange, yellow and other bright colored flowers. Another way to attract hummingbirds is to decorate your garden or feeder with red or orange ribbons.

Using pesticides around a hummingbird garden is not a good idea. Hummingbirds rely on garden pests for protein, so killing the bugs cuts down drastically on their diet. Don't worry about the bugs, the hummingbirds will take care of them.

Hummingbirds especially need water to bathe in. The sticky nectar left on their feathers makes it hard for them to fly and can even cause the feathers to fall out. Provide them with plenty of fresh water. They seem to like shallow, moving water so you might want to install a small waterfall birdbath or a fountain with a soft spray.

Now that you have the fundamental basis for creating a hummingbird garden, get to working on it, then sit back and enjoy a cup of coffee while watching all your new hummingbird friends congregate in their new home!!