I received a phone call the other day from a man whose father was a master gardener and wanted to donate two boxes of books for our office. I didn’t have a chance to look at all of them, but one did catch my interest. It was written by author, Douglas Tallamy, and I once attended one of his lectures about “Bringing Nature Home.”  I took the book home and could not stop reading. I would like to pass on some of Tallamy’s suggestions.

Three things I learned about hummingbirds: they are considered to be the exquisite jewels of the garden, are major pollinators, and they are insect predators. The hummingbirds probe the tubular flowers with their long, thin bill. They collect pollen on their heads which is then transferred to the next bloom. They are constantly eating; it is documented they eat 1/3 to 1/2 of their weight every day. They need to eat constantly for energy as their wings move up to 90 beats per second.  It is estimated that hummingbirds consume nectar from 1,000 blossoms and many small insects for protein. 

The garden should be designed with a continuous exposure of hummingbird flowers to include tubular flowers of red, and colors from early spring to late fall.  Here is a list of flowers for Northwest Ohio which also serve as shelter and nesting sites:  trumpet creeper (Campsis radicans), skyrocket gilia (Ipomopsis aggregate), chuparosa (Justicia californica), cardinal flower (Lobelia cardinalis), twinberry honeysuckle (Lonicera involucrate), lemon bee balm (Monarda ciyriodora), western azalea (Rhododendron occidentale), and fuchsia-flowered gooseberry (Ribes speciosum) to name a few. 

For a patio or balcony, the flowers should be planted in mass clumps in containers. Group flowers should be arranged from lowest to highest in height in your garden with an attractive patch of color so the hummingbirds can easily access the flowers and so you can also easily spot the hummingbirds all season. You might also try planting an island of the special flowers surrounded by a grass lawn.  If there is no space available, plant trumpet creeper on a trellis. 

Hummingbirds need water so make sure it is available in misters or dripping devices. Their choice is flying through a mist to bathe rather than a bird bath. A garden hose can be used pointing upward on the spray mist feature if you don’t have a mister. If a pond is in your future, why not include a spray feature that will be sooooo appealing to the hummingbird community.

The nesting of hummingbirds often happens in suburban tall trees such as oak, alder, maple, and hemlock.  You can spot the female hard at work building a small cup-shaped nest from plant down and lichen. She binds this with spider webs and fastens to a horizontal limb. The nesting material consists of fuzz from young fronds of cinnamon ferns, pussy willow catkins, thistles, dandelions, and cottonlike flower remnants of bulrush. 

At night, to conserve their energy, the hummingbirds go into torpor which is a form of hibernation or deep sleep, which lowers their metabolism by 85% and their heart rate is reduced. The hummingbird roosts wherever it is warm and safe from predators.

Please, please, please refrain from using pesticides and other chemicals that will harm the hummingbirds. They eat large amounts of insects. This will save you money in bug killing products also.

So, if you build an attractive, nectar loving, water (misting) feature and provide a little safe shelter, they will come.  According to Douglas Tallamy only one (the ruby-throated) nests in our part of North America. The male has a brilliant iridescent metallic red throat. They arrive in our area in late February or early March and stay till mid-November, then start their fall migration south.

Susan La Fountaine is a Master Gardener with the Ohio State University Extension Offices in Sandusky and Ottawa Counties.