Feeding hummingbirds is such a rewarding activity. Sure, a feeder or two will do the trick, but you can also attract hummers by growing flowers with a tapered funnel shape that are rich in nectar and color (especially red). Plant as many of these hummingbird favorites as you can, and you’ll not only provide a floral buffet for these tiny birds, you’ll also fill your yard with beautiful blooms.
Bee Balm
This summer-blooming perennial is sure to make a bold statement in your landscape. Although red is the most common color for bee balm, you can also find varieties with pink, violet, and white flowers; all are good for attracting hummingbirds and other pollinators.
Light: Full sun
Water: Plant in moist, well-drained soil
Size: To 4 feet tall and 2 feet wide
Zones: 3-9
Garden Phlox
Hummingbirds will appreciate garden phlox as much as you do. This old-fashioned perennial produces clusters of sweetly fragrant pink, red, lavender, or white flowers in summer. The flowers that attract hummingbirds grow upright in clumps and look especially pretty in a mixed border.
Light: Full sun or part shade
Water: Plant in moist, well-drained soil
Size: To 4 feet tall and 3 feet wide
Zones: 4-8
Lupine
A cottage garden classic, lupines offer colorful spires of blooms in early and mid-summer and can be enjoyed even when they’re not flowering thanks to their pretty hand-shape foliage. Lupines are sensitive to heat, so look for hybrids specifically bred to withstand hot summer temperatures.
Light: Full sun
Water: Plant in moist, well-drained soil
Size: To 4 feet tall and wide
Zones: 4-9
Buy It: Lupines Mixture ($30, Breck’s)
Red-Hot Poker
This hummingbird favorite features tall spikes of scarlet, yellow, white, and orange tubular flowers and fountain-like clumps of coarse, grassy, gray-green foliage. Red-hot poker is impressive in small groupings at the back of a perennial border, or even just as a single specimen plant. Clip spent flowers to promote rebloom.
Light: Full sun or part shade
Water: Plant in well-drained soil
Size: To 5 feet tall and 2 feet wide, depending on type
Zones: 5-9, depending on type
Hollyhock
This classic biennial (lives for 2 years, usually flowering in the second) that attracts hummingbirds is renowned for its tall spikes of single or double flowers. Hollyhocks also bloom in a wide range of colors, from purple-black to red, yellow, pink, or white. The flowering stalks of this cottage garden plant are covered in buds all the way up their stems, which gradually bloom from the bottom of the stem up.
Light: Full sun
Water: Plant in well-drained soil
Size: To 8 feet tall and 3 feet wide
Zones: 3-8, but often grown as annuals
Columbine
Start the hummingbird season out right with the cheery red-and-yellow blooms of wild columbine. This easy-growing perennial is native to many rocky terrains and woodland areas of North America and prefers afternoon shade when grown in areas with hot and humid summers. Wild columbine’s unique flowers hang downward from a long stalk and have round tips on the ends of the petals.
Light: Full sun to part shade
Water: Plant in moist, well-drained soil
Size: To 3 feet tall and 2 feet wide
Zones: 3-8
Foxglove
Another staple of cottage gardens, biennial foxgloves bear tall spikes of pink, purple, white, yellow, or patterned tube-shaped flowers in summer. Although some foxgloves are perennials, most common varieties are biennials, meaning that in their first year grown from seed they will only grow stalks and the next year, they’ll bloom and drop seeds to start the cycle over again.
Light: Full sun or part shade
Water: Plant in moist, well-drained soil
Size: To 6 feet tall and 3 feet wide, depending on type
Zones: 3-8, depending on type
Lantana
A favorite of butterflies and hummingbirds alike, lantana offers colorful red, yellow, orange, pink, lavender, or white flowers. These heat-loving, drought-resistant plants will fit well in sunny spots in your garden. Lantana’s bright flowers make an excellent contrast with its dark leaves and the color will gradually get darker as time goes on.
Light: Full sun
Water: Plant in well-drained soil
Size: To 4 feet tall and wide (but usually less when grown as an annual)
Zones: 8-11, but typically grown as an annual in colder areas
