Have a yard full of adorable hummingbirds by making a few simple changes. Check out these tips to attract hummingbirds to your yard.
During the spring and summer, when the flowers start to pop up, so do the butterflies and hummingbirds. They are beautiful to watch! There are a few things you can do to encourage them to frequent your garden. Learn how to attract hummingbirds to your yard with a few of these tips.
How to Attract Hummingbirds to Your Yard
Add a Hummingbird Feeder
Adding a feeder is an obvious tip if you are trying to attract hummingbirds to your yard. Add a hummingbird feeder. Choose a location that is quiet, preferably near some flowers, and leave it up. Remember to clean the feeder every few days and let the magic happen. Also, when choosing a feeder, choose a bright colored one. The bright color will increase your chances of success. Hummingbirds love this Homemade Hummingbird Nectar recipe. Give it a try in your feeders!
Plant Red Flowers
Hummingbirds love flower nectar, but they are particularly attracted to red flowers. So, if you are trying to lure them to your yard, give them what they like. Plant read flowers like Hibiscus in your yard to get their attention.
Keep the Flowers Coming
While hummingbirds migrate, depending on where you live, you may end up with some permanent residents if you do all the right things. Plant your garden to have a continuous blooming cycle. Choose plants that will bloom all year long to give them year-round food supply. While this isn't possible in some climates, do your best to have a variety of plants to choose from.
Add misters to your yard
Hummingbirds like to bathe. It never fails that on a rainy day or when I have the sprinklers on here they come. Add some misters to your yard to help them cool down and bathe on a hot day. They will LOVE it.
Deadhead Your Flowers
Once your garden is growing, and your flowers are blooming, don't forget to deadhead. Deadheading means going out and cutting off the dead flowers. I like to cut a few before they are gone and bring them in for a vase. By doing this, it signals to your plants to make more flowers which the hummingbirds LOVE!
Don't Remove Spiderwebs
No one likes spiders, but the hummingbirds. It's not so much the spiders they like, but their webs. Hummingbirds use spiderwebs to make their nests. So, if you are interested in giving the hummingbirds what they want, don't remove spiderwebs around your yard. The birds will do that for you.
Give them a place to rest
There is nothing cuter than a hummingbird resting in your yard. Those little wings go so fast it has to wear them out. Keep in mind how tiny a hummingbird is. They sell small hummingbird perches, but I have found they enjoy sitting on the wire tomato cages around my dahlias just as much. I have also seen them resting on the wire fence. Just make sure there is a place in your yard near the feeders that is small enough for them to rest on.
Try More than One Feeder
Once the hummingbirds come, you will realize one thing. They don't like to share their feeder. I have very rarely seen two eat at once from the same feeder. They typically chase the others away until they are done. So try more than one hummingbird feeder around your yard. This year I am up to 3, and they are all being used. Next year we may add another if this keeps up. Please remember no matter how many feeders to keep them clean and change the hummingbird nectar often to prevent illness in your birds.
I hope these tips help and encourage you to set up your yard to attract hummingbirds. They are so much fun to watch and an excellent pollinator to keep around. Don't be discouraged if it takes a little while. Just keep making your yard hummingbird friendly, and they will come.
Questions? Comments?