Wilson Bros Gardens LLC

The perfect hummingbird habitat is a simple one, and even the smallest garden can provide the food, water, perches, shelter and nesting sites that hummingbirds need. It's easy to lure these beautiful birds into your backyard - and keep them coming back year after year.

Before you can design your hummingbird garden, you need to make a list of plants that will go in it. If you plan carefully and select a variety of plants that flower at successively later dates, you will be rewarded with hummingbirds throughout the season, and you'll meet their feeding needs until the point in time they fly south for the winter.

Here's some tips to help you select a range of plants that will meet the needs of your hummingbirds.

After making your list of plants, spend some time to sketch a basic plan out on paper.

Open sites that receive all day sun or morning sun with afternoon shade are preferred, as many of the plants that produces the nectar-rich flowers hummingbirds like prefer sun.

An important consideration when designing your hummingbird garden is its shape. Curved, narrow flower beds in an open area are best because the hummingbirds can access the blooms from all sides of the plants. Plant your garden near decks, patios, porches or just outside windows of your home so you can view them in up close in action.

Don't crowd your garden with large trees or shrubs, but do arrange to have several in or near the garden. Hummingbirds need room to accommodate their wings as they whir about the blossoms. Select a variety of flowers, trees and shrubs, from low to medium to tall in height. Male hummers like to have tall trees to perch on, as they use them to watch for predators while the females are feeding.

TIP:  When you're ready to plant, purchase the plants on your list and in your design that are available and special order any that aren't available.

There are different methods for planting a hummingbird garden and the plants that will go in it. Some folks say its best to till up the entire garden area, however, this can bring lots of buried weed seeds to the surface and also promotes invasiveness of certain types of perennial plants. Of course you can till the entire area if you like, it makes planting a little easier, but I like to just dig individual planting holes for each plant.

Here's some helpful planting tips:

Plot the perimeter of the garden shape out with marker paint, baking flour, or a garden hose.

After spray has dried, use a round point garden shovel to dig a trench about 4 to 6 inches deep around the perimeter of the garden, following your painted line.This will help to define your garden.

Before planting, arrange the perennials and any other plants or trees you have purchased, in the garden. If you didn't draw a sketch, place taller varieties (48"' + height) towards the back of the border (or center if the garden will be viewed from all sides). Place mid-size plants (18-48' height) in front or nestled between taller ones. Place lower plants or groundcover plants around towards the front or border of the garden.

NOTE:  When setting the plants out in the bed make sure to space them properly. If a plant grows 18 inches wide mark out a circle on the ground with an 18" diameter (orange marker paint works great for doing this.) Set the plant in the center of the circle. Also mark out areas where missing plants will be planted later when they arrive. 

After placing all of the plants, step back to take a look to make sure you have things set up the way you want. Make any final placement adjustments.

When you are satisfied that everything is in place, remove one plant at a time from its container. Be careful not to damage plants when removing them from their nursery container. If the plant is stuck in the pot, cut the container away.

Dig the planting hole 2 to 3 times as wide as the root ball of the plant. Place the native soil around the perimeter of the planting hole, in a wheel barrow, or on a tarp. In heavy clay or poor, infertile soil, thoroughly mix in some mushroom compost or other composted organic matter at a 50/50 ratio with the native soil removed from the hole. 

Place plant in hole with the top edge of the root ball even with the ground level, or slightly above to allow for settling. Backfill around plant with soil mixture, tamping lightly as you go to remove air pockets.

After planting, give the entire garden a good deep soaking to a 6-inch depth, or to the depth of the planting holes.  

Mulch your new butterfly garden with no more than a 2" layer of pine straw or cured, shredded wood mulch. Avoid the use of freshly ground or chipped mulch. 

Your new hummingbird garden will need attention throughout the growing season. 

Weeds will compete with the desirable plants in your garden. So it's a good idea to keep them under control. When weeds sprout, make sure to pull them or spray with an herbicide as soon as possible. Just be very careful when spraying any herbicide that you don't spray the foliage of the desirable plants in your garden! Mulch can help to suppress weeds. The application of a granular weed preventer can also be helpful. Just know that weed preventers kill the seeds, and if you have plants growing in your butterfly garden that you want to reseed themselves, a weed preventer might kill these seeds, so you might not want to apply a weed preventer. 

When established, many hummingbird attracting plants, such as lantana, sages, hummingbird plant (Dicliptera suberecta) and butterfly bush, are quite drought tolerant. Through the first warm season, in the absence of sufficient rainfall, provide additional moisture to plants that need it. Wilting leaves are a sign your plants could use a drink. That being said, always use the finger test to check soil moisture before watering. If the soil is dry deep soak the plant. If the soil is moist or soggy, hold off until the top inch or two of the soil is somewhat dry. 

The use of a mulch is an attractive and effective means of controlling weeds and maintaining soil moisture and temperature for the root systems of your plants. Mulches that you might consider include shredded wood mulch or pine straw. To be effective, the mulch should be applied at about 2 inches thick around the plants. When wood mulches are piled too high, it can block moisture from getting to the soil, and fungus can develop in the mulch as well.

You may deadhead (remove spent or faded flowers) from your perennials and annuals all season long. Deadheading often encourages the development of new flowers.

SEE:  How To Deadhead Perennial Flowers

In late fall or early winter, when your perennials have died back, you may remove dead foliage.

WARNING: Do not prune back hardy lantanas in the fall as doing so will almost always ensure death of the plant. Wait until new growth begins to emerge in spring to prune back lantana. At that time you can remove all dead growth.

After cutting back dead foliage in late fall or winter you may want to winterize the perennial plants in your butterfly garden garden by applying an inch or two of loose mulch or compost around the plants.