perennial nectar favorites

Attract more hummingbirds year after year with flowers that require less time, maintenance and money.

- JILL STAAKE

Ruby-throated hummingbird at John Clayton trumpet honeysuckle

Nothing is sweeter

than seeing a hummingbird visit your yard. Sugar-water feeders are one way to attract these vibrant birds, but an even better bet is an abundance of flowering plants that they love. Grow perennials to keep hummers coming back each year.

Cardinal flower stems offer many blooms for ruby-throated hummingbirds.

Plant with Purpose

"If we want to truly support birds, our first instinct must be to create native habitat," says Becca Rodomsky-Bish, a project leader for the Cornell Lab of Ornithology. "While sugar-water feeders are a fun way to pull birds in close to our homes, they don't resolve the long-term issue that many birds such as hummingbirds can have, which is where to forage for native food resources." Hummingbirds may consume about half their body weight in nectar each day, feeding approximately every 10 to 15 minutes. (They also eat small insects, especially during nesting season.) All that sipping means they require access to many blooms every day. Native perennials are a terrific option to fill that demand.

Bee balm is native to North America and attracts pollinators such as the ruby-throated hummingbird.

"Plants that are attuned to your region will bloom and produce what is needed, when it is needed," Becca says. "Provide a variety of plants that produce flowers at different times in the season to best align with the resources hummingbirds require to successfully recover after long migrations, raise their young and fuel up to prepare for their fall migrations."