Plants for Hummingbirds
Showing 1–8 of 91 results
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Aesculus pavia
Spectacular raspberry colored upright panicles in spring
OUT OF STOCK
Aesculus pavia Red buckeye Z 5-8
Spectacular raspberry colored upright panicles in springSize: 15’ x 10’
Care: sun to part shade in moist well drained soil- understory tree
Native: eastern US
Wildlife Value: attracts butterflies & feeds hummingbirds
Awards: England’s Royal Horticultural Society Award of Merit; Pennsylvania Horticultural Society Gold Medal Plant Award & Missouri Botanic Garden Award of MeritAesculus is a Latin name for a nut bearing tree. Pavia comes from Peter Pav, a Dutch professor at University of Leyden. This plant collected by John Bartram and sent to England by 1711. Jefferson grew this at Monticello, planted in 1798. Nuts from the tree were used by Native Americans to stupefy fish. Chickasaws pulverized the root, placed it in baskets and violently churned the baskets in the river to poison fish. Cherokee Indians carried the nuts in their pockets for good luck, as well as for curing piles and rheumatism. Pounded nuts also cured swelling, sprains, tumors and infections.
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Agastache aurantiaca Navajo sunset Z 5-9
Brilliant light orange blooms from spring-fall, silvery-grey aromatic foliage
OUT OF STOCK
Agastache aurantiaca Navajo sunset Z 5-9
Brilliant light orange blooms from spring-fall, silvery-grey aromatic foliageSize: 12-18” x 24”
Care: sun in well-drained soil
Native: Western US
Wildlife Value: attracts bees, butterflies, hummingbirds, and birds. Deer and rabbit resistantPublished in American Midland Naturalist 1945.
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Agastache rupestris Sunset hyssop Z 5-10
Tangerine & lilac spikes June - October, fragrant like anise
OUT OF STOCK
Tangerine & lilac spikes June – October, fragrant like anise
Size: 24”x 10”
Care: full sun in well-drained soil
Native: SW United States
Wildlife Value: Attracts bees, butterflies and hummingbirds
Awards: 1997 Plant Select award recipient.Collected by Edward Lee Greene in 1880 at Mango Springs neara Solver City New Mexico. Pittonia 1:164.
The name Agastache is from Greek agan and stachys meaning “much like an ear of wheat” referring to the shape of the flower spike. Rupestris means “rock loving.” -
Alcea rosea var. nigra Black hollyhock BIENNIAL Z 4-9
Early to late summer spikes of single jet-black/maroon platters.
Alcea rosea var. nigra Black hollyhock BIENNIAL Z 4-9
Early to late summer spikes of single jet-black/maroon platters.
Size: 5-8’ x 24”
Care: sun in well-drained soil
Native: West Asia
Wildlife Value: Attracts bees, butterflies and birdsHollyhocks have been cultivated in China for thousands of years where it symbolized the passing of time. They cooked the leaves for a vegetable and also ate the buds. Transported from Middle East to Europe by the Crusaders and introduced to England by 1573. Grown in the Eichstätt Garden, the garden of Johann Konrad von Gemmingen, prince bishop of Eichstätt in Bavaria, c. 1600. Culpepper, a 17th century English herbalist, claimed the plant could be used to cure ailments of the “belly, Stone, Reins, Kidneys, Bladder, Coughs, Shortness of Breath, Wheesing, … the King’s Evil,, Kernels, Chin-cough, Wounds, Bruises, Falls. . . (and) Sun-burning.” Both single and double forms grew in England by the time of Parkinson (1629). Parkinson said they came “in many and sundry colours.” John Winthrop Jr. introduced the 1st hollyhock to the New World in the 1630’s.
In the 1880’s Mr. W. Charter of Saffron Walden in England cultivated frilly doubles, now known as ‘Charter’s Doubles.’
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Antirrhinum hispanicum ‘Roseum’ syn. A. glutinosum Perennial snapdragon, Spanish snapdragon Z 5-8
Rose pink, with yellow above the lower lip, snapdragon-shaped blooms in spring, repeats in fall. Fuzzy, silver-grey foliage
Antirrhinum hispanicum ‘Roseum’ syn. A. glutinosum Perennial snapdragon, Spanish snapdragon Z 5-8
Rose pink, with yellow above the lower lip, snapdragon-shaped blooms in spring and repeats in fall. Fuzzy, glaucous, silver-grey foliage. Excellent for places you want low-growing, drought tolerant flowers.Size: 12” x 2’
Care: sun in well-drained soil
Native: Spain & Morocco
Wildlife Value: deer resistant, attracts hummingbirdsDescribed in 1852 in Pugillus Plantarum Novarum Africae Borealis Hispaniaeque Australis
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Aquilegia canadensis Canada Columbine Z 3-9
May - June scarlet and yellow columbines
OUT OF STOCK
May – June, scarlet and yellow columbines
Size: 24-36”x 12”
Care: part shade in moist well-drained soil
Native: Eastern Canada to Florida, west to New Mexico, Wisconsin native.
Wildlife Value: Rich, sugary nectar important food for ruby-throated hummingbirds. Buntings and finches eat the seeds. Sole food source for columbine duskywing caterpillar.Seeds are fragrant when crushed, used by Omaha, Ponca and Pawnee as perfume. Pawnee used the plant as a love charm by rubbing pulverized seeds in palm of hand and endeavoring to shake hand of desired person. Crushed seeds also used to cure fever and headaches. Cherokee made a tea for heart trouble. The Iroquois used the plant to cure poisoning and to detect people who were bewitched. Grown by Englishman Tradescant the Elder in 1632. He may have received it from France. Cultivated by Washington & Jefferson.
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Bletilla striata syn. B. hyacinthina Chinese ground orchid Z 5-9
Racemes of pinkish-purple flowers on scapes above dark green, upright, lance-shaped leaves, April-May
Racemes of pinkish-purple flowers on scapes above dark green, upright, lance-shaped leaves, April-May
Size: 12-18” x 12”
Care: Part shade in moist, well-drained soil.
Native: China, Japan
Wildlife Value: Attracts bees, butterflies and hummingbirds. Deer & Rabbit resistant.
Awards: Royal Horticultural Society Award of Garden MeritProtect with thick winter mulch, may not reliably survive Zone 5 winters.
Spreads slowly by rhizomes and seeds in optimal conditions.
‘Bletilla’ honors Louis Blet, a Spanish apothecary in Algeciras who also had a botanic garden at the end of the 18th century. Collected before 1784 by Thunberg. -
Calamintha nepeta ssp. nepeta syn. Clinopodium nepeta ssp. nepeta Lesser calamint Z 4-9
Profuse violet blooms on mint-scented, gray-green foliage gives frosty image, June-October
Profuse violet blooms on mint-scented, gray-green foliage gives frosty image, June-October
Size: 18-24” x 8-12”
Native: Europe and Mediterranean
Wildlife Value: attracts bees, butterflies and hummingbirdsThis subspecies 1st described by Linnaeus in 1753. Genus name comes from Greek kalos meaning beautiful and minthe meaning mint. It is not, however, a mint and is not invasive.
