Hi Kim

Guess Im always ready to show what I have. I find that feeders work the best early in the spring and then at migration time flowers really do their show.

salvia coral nymph
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salvia greggii stampede series
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cuphea david verity
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salvia guaranitica blue ensign

the large pink one is agastache tutti frutti
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Here is a link that might be useful: hummer likes tutti frutti

Gorgeous pictures! I love the look of that cuphea david verity. I've never heard of that one before. The salvias are stunning as well. Last season I grew a bunch of Coral Nymph. The goldfinches LOVED to eat the seeds. I have an Acapulco Salmon and Pink plant that the bees and I adore. Smells like Lemon Pledge. I think the hummingbirds will like it once they find my yard. It blooms heavily for the entire season. I love it.

Thanks again for your pictures! I'll have to keep my eyes peeled for seeds or plants.
Kim

Kim

Yes I have the coral honeysuckle too and goldfinches eat the berries from it also. I also have another cuphea plant that is called 'shumannii" or orange cuphea . I thought you might like to take a peek at the flowers on it as they are a bigger fatter variety. Also Im adding a vid of a hummer working one over.

heres one I took cutting from last year that I overwintered
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Here is a link that might be useful: hummer on shumannii

The coloring on that flower is amazing! Thanks for posting your videos as well. My daughter and I had fun watching some of them earlier. Thanks for the link. I'll go take a look at it right now.

Hi Kim
I have a variety salvia to offer them. Pink Autum Sage caught this guys attention. But my Coral Honeysuckle is the hummer favorite here.

Good luck with your 2010 hummer season. My feeder will go out in about a month for the spring migration.

I'm still waiting on my coral honeysuckle to get large enough to bloom. I bought it as a tiny bareroot plant last season, so maybe this will be the year for flowers.

I definitely need to start growing more salvia. The hummingbird above would seem to agree. They have been easy enough to start from seed in previous years. I have seed for red varieties. The blue varieties are spectacular. I've never grown those before. I'll have to keep my eyes peeled for seeds for a blue variety.

Does anyone have any suggestions on blue varieties that seem to flower well? Pictures are appreciated as well. :)
Kim

Okay, you asked for it! LOL.

Pink/purple flowers on right are Agastache Acapulco 'Salmon and Pink' and you can also see some purple/violet/red colored Monarda.

Agastache close up

Monarda close up (you can see some native yellow Columbine in the right back side)

close up of columbine (Aquilegia chrysantha)

Another hybrid columbine cultivar

my 6-year old clump of Crocosmia 'Lucifer', was 10 bulbs when first planted, now it is giant!

A cuphea hybrid (Tiny Mice) that I planted in a pot on the back patio last year...Rufous hummers liked this plant.

Salvia penstemonoides, taken 2 years ago, only got one of these plants left as one died out last winter. :-(

This was of my front garden take two summers ago, showing the large clump of Penstemon barbatus I have. I had to divide it last winter and get rid of some encroaching grass, so it didn't bloom nearly as well last summer. In this pick there are about 30-40 inflorescences and the three plants were about 4 years old at this point. It is hand's down the favorite hummer plant in my garden when it is in bloom.

BN

Salvia guaranitica 'Black & Blue' is a favorite with hummers and humans alike. Long bloom period. Lots of info on B&B can be found on the Salvia Forum.

Wow,ctnchpr, this is a fantastic shot. I don't think I have ever seen a picture of a hummingbird landed on a plant to feed. Good for you!!!! My Black and Blue has been dormant since the frost killed it last month. Hopefully, it will come back alive soon.

Ive seen it just dont think I have a pic of it. Need to ck my archive. This thread has turned into a true picture thread and that's great in my mind.

Birding Nut---You're right. I asked for it! Let me have it!

I love all of these pictures. They are so inspirational. 'Black and Blue' has great coloring. I may try to find seed for this.

The Acapulco Salmon and Pink agastache. I bought that one two falls ago. Last year it bloomed its head off. I LOVE this plant. I'm hoping hummers will find it and love it to. The strong lemon scent is delicious!

Keep the pics coming! Thanks.

kr222,

The 'black and blue' and 'blue ensign' are both salvia guaraniticas and you won't find any seed for them. Unlike salvia coccineas like 'lady in red' and 'coral nymph', the guaraniticas don't produce much seed and also tend to not come true from seed. 'Black and blue' plants can often be found at local garden centers and online. 'Blue ensign', which Steve will tell you is an even better hummer attractor than 'black and blue', can be bought online from A World of Salvias. I am likely going to buy a couple of them later this spring.

Actually salvia guaranitica does set seed its just that they tend to fall out before a person can collect them. Im sure there are growers who have seed of these. One year I got lucky and collected about 60 seeds of b & b. But I have always had trouble getting these to germinate from seed and yes its true these may not come true as with all flowers/plants. In my zone 6/5b these have not come back for me, but last year for the first time I had one b & b come back. I seem to have better luck taking cuttings and overwintering, but that is not to say I dont winter sow seed inside for different plants. In fact most likely late next month I will start sowing inside. Another way is to winter sow outside for colder climates , its more of a control factor in starting seedlings but it does work. It will be interesting to see if my covering of main garden with heavy plastic and mulch or leaf filled bags will be a success or failure. It makes sense that it should make a difference, I will find out come may.

Thanks for the correction, Steve. So, does blue ensign's seed production compared to black & blue? Ditto for the Brazilian blue guaraniticas you got from Select Seed?

previous post should read...

"...So, HOW does blue ensign's seed production COMPARE to..."

This past season when I got around to attempting to collect seed from these it was too late, all of the sal. guaranitica plant's seed was gone. I guess you need to start checking for seed when they start to dry up not after they have dried and the weather has blown out the seed. Combine all this and you can see why the seed is hard to come by.

We have hummingbirds in very small but steady numbers during late summer thru fall, but rarely ever see one during the spring. I'm trying to start some flowering quince and more wild columbines to try and get them in the spring. Their favorites for summer and fall in our yard are Anise Hyssop
(agastache), Cardinal Flower, Cardinal Climber, Scarlet Runner Beans, Lady in Red Salvia, and Trumpet Vine.

On Trumpet Vine

From 2009_09


Trumpet Vine is a BEAST though and not much to look at in the winter. Our new neighbor/house flipper asked if it was ok if his tree guy cut down "that dead tree" growing through the fence. LOL. I said it isn't a tree, it is a vine, and it isn't dead. We cut it down to make him happy, but we know it will grow back quickly anyways.
From Misc


Cardinal Flower
From Misc


Scarlet Runner Bean
From Misc


Agastache
From 2008_07

Wow, that trumpet vine looks amazing. I haven't seen a better-looking photo of one. I love the cardinal flower, too, and I'm looking forward to growing one next to my patio this year.

Amazing trumpet vine. I agree with hawkeye. That's the best photo of trumpet vine that I have seen. Great job!

WOW, great thread. Thanks for starting it Kim. Some of these pic's are very inspiring.

Melissa1977

Melissa1977,
I agree. These pictures have been inspiring for me as well. I've already ordered some more monarda to add to my garden. I'm keeping my eyes peeled for some blue salvia to add as well. Thanks to everyone that is contributing their pictures. It's a fun way to spend time indoors when there is 2 feet of snow on the ground!
Kim

Here is a link that might be useful: Two Feet of Snow

Kim,
I put in 5 different Monarda's last summer along with the 7 honeysuckles. Can't wait for them to bloom this summer and pull'em in.

Melissa1977

Melissa,
After looking at these inspiring pictures I ordered 3 Jacob Kline monarda plants and some Lucifer crocosmia. I'm hoping this will help!
Kim

Oooooo! I am planting a new garden at a new house and all your wonderful pictures are so inspiring! I need all the inspiring I can get in this early hard-work stage! :>)

Here is my hummingbird garden. With a very short growing season here in alberta, I've grown all that I can think of to attract hummers. Still a work in progress but very succesfull this year. The hummers don't arrive in my garden till the last week of July and are gone early in Sept. so I enjoy them while I can.

Here is a link that might be useful: reenb12

reenb12-
Gorgeous gardens!

Here is a link that might be useful: Kim's Garden

Very beautiful garden, reenb! That photo tagged "Hummingbird Garden" needs to be in a magazine.

Gorgeous pics on this thread! Hummer plants are so beautiful! Renee your album is fabulous. Birding nut, you must get great sightings of the hummers on the flowers from your front door and windows. Molanic, I agree awesome Trumpet vine, hope your neighbors appreciate that too. :)

My Hummingbird Garden is in the back yard. It has the most hummer plants, although there are other ones scattered in the rest of the yard. These 2 pics were taken in July - front and back of the Hummingbird garden.

Then in August and September the annuals start to come on strong - like the Zinnias, Salvia, and Cardinal climber.

Great pictures Terrene!

Here is a link that might be useful: My Garden

Before the fall frosts hit here, I thought it would be fun to bump this thread so everyone can show pictures of their 2011 gardens.
Kim

Here is a link that might be useful: My Gardens

Since Kim has renewed this thread I decided to post new pics of my garden at present Im not sure if the changes I made or its some other reason but as some members have claimed I too have also experienced my best hummer season ever as during migration I had several days being blessed with 30+ hummers. I may never see that again but I shall never forget this season.

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Bump.
Who needs some inspiration?

Steve - You have such a fabulous garden! I'm envious everytime I see your pics!

KR - I think you asked somewhere in this thread where to get Salvia Guaranitica? I know Green Valley Nursery had lots of it last year. Just make sure to plant it in semi shade as the first year I had it, it did not survive the hot direct sun. Either that, or container it, and bring it inside to overwinter.