Hummingbird Favourites

The Essential Three:

• Wild Columbine
• Cardinal Flower
• Beebalm

Some other good natives:

• Allegheny Fringe
• Blue Flag Iris
• Water Avens
• Buttonbush
• Glaucous Honeysuckle

From further afield:

• Royal Catchfly
• Standing Cypress
• Pine-leaved Beardtongue
• Firecracker Beardtongue
• Kankakee Mallow
• Scarlet Monkey Flower

Don’t overlook the easy-to-grow annual vines, such as Scarlet Runner Bean, purple-flowered forms of garden Pole Beans (I like tasty Blauhilde, from William Dam Seeds), and Quamoclit or Cypress Vine (Ipomoea quamoclit). They are often available in inexpensive seed packets at the local garden centre or hardware store and they are effective. Ruby-throated hummingbirds winter in Cuba and summer in western Quebec – they have got to be adaptable and open to trying new food sources along their migration.