Janie,
For instant attraction, get a flat or two of red salvia and plant them in a nice sunny spot. You can find them at any garden center and they are pretty inexpensive. Masses of red flowers will bring the little jewels to your yard. You don't say where in Zone 8 your are located and I'm sure that will make some difference for perennials, but other plants you can try right away are any blue salvia you can find. Buy Salvia guaranitica "Black and Blue" if you can find it.

You can search this forum for some great lists of plants that attract hummers, so I'm not going to go through a whole list. It really is dependent on your area. If there is a nursery in your area that specialized in native plants, they are certain to be able to show you plants that will make hummingbirds and butterflys happy.

(Also, I'm sure you didn't realize this and it's just your enthusiasm showing through, but typing all in caps is considered to be SHOUTING in forums and it's generally discouraged. Using typical sentence format is just easier to read.)

Jamie I see you live in zone 8. Hang your feeders now. If you had them last year hang the feeders in the very same place.

I have been watching three ruby males having a feeder fight this morning. Should have been in church,

I am listing a site that has world of information about hummingbirds and the plants that they love. I visit there as well as here.

Here is a link that might be useful: Hummingbird Forum

Jamie...this very same thing happened to me...we moved into a new home at the end of June last summer, with a sparsely landscaped yard...I was sure my beloved hummers would not "follow" me so to speak, as I had hundreds at my previous home...

I hung all of my feeders before the unpacking began and they found them in no time....I was sooooooo happy!!!! I did plant some salvia in two iron wall containers on my patio, and they loved that as well...good luck!

Jamie if you live close enough to me in zone 8 I would love to share plants with you. I have a David 'verity' cuphea that is a hummingbird magnet. Like you I have been working for the past 5 years to make my yard a hummingbird and butterfly haven.

Thank yall so much for all the great advice and sostice98 I am so sorry about the all caps thing (I know better now-THank YOU) Mimidi - I live in the northeast corner of LA and I travel to meriden , ms weekly but I'm afraid that is as far east as I have made it lately. But never know with hubby on pipeline. I went and bought a new feeder today after looking at the migration map and seeing that they were being spotted closer and closer to me. I have to go to Avon business Tom in a couple of towns about 2 hrs fwest of here so I will be stopping in and out of the local nursiers and also going to target and big lots to check out there gardening stuff. again thank you all i am keeping up with everything in a mote book I am now naming the HUMMING BOOK of INFO. Look forward to more great advice and will post as soon as I see my first one. I am so excited to have joined here and looking forward to making new friends that love the garden as much as me...

Jamie

Jamie...what a coincidence...I live in Meridian! Again, good luck with your hummers...

Donna

I think maybe it would be worth your while to check out Calliandra. I believe Calliandra eriophylla is hardier and it may possibly thrive in your climate zone. We grow Calliandra california and the red flowers continue to keep the hummers coming at our house. It starts to take off with blossoms just before the Aloe finishes blooming.

{{gwi:4590}}

Supannee,

I will be on the look out for this.. Iwent to town to the local nursies and even good old walmart and not one place had salvia petunis or any tubular flowers. they had verbena gerber daisies and marigolds. I came home with 4 new feeders and i put them all up now time to search for plants guess i'll look in jackson, ms next week while staying in byram, ms with husband. thanks again for everything.

Jamie

Jamie,
Several years ago I threw a tiny piece of coral honeysuckle in a pot at the bottom of my stair railing and we moved shortly after that. The people who rented my house for 3 years never did anything in the yard...no plant care at all! That honeysuckle is covering the rail just outside my window and I sat in front of it this morning watching 3 different males attack it. Every year it seems I forgot over the winter just how beautiful, magnificent and breathtaking these tiny flying flowers are!
I would be happy to send you a piece of it...just send me an email and let me know if you would like it.
Sandy

Hi all for those of us that use feeders for our hummers, I thought I should pass some info on that was given to me last year.Hubby took me to a state park here in Ohio that you can hand feed hummers what fun it was.First off there are feeders out there that you take the bottom apart, made by First Nature, to clean and get all of the mold out . The second thing they said was to make you own sugar water with out the red food coloring, they seem to think that the red coloring is hurting the hummers.
This park has been doing research on thier hummers for years. For the hand feeding they taken down their 15 or so feeders.We took a clear tube some thing like the tubes that florist use and put a red pipe cleaner around the top. We sat very still and many people had hummers come to them. My hubby could not sit still but the lady beside of me had 4 hummers at hers in 10 minutes.The park is Lake Hope in the Hocking Hills.