Plants for Hummingbirds
Showing 65–72 of 78 results
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Sambucus canadensis syn. Sambucus nigra var. canadensis. Elderberry, American elderberry Z 3-9
In late spring to mid-summer lavish, fragrant flat-to dome-shaped clusters of flowers bloom above this arching, multi-stemmed shrub. Late summer into fall the multitude of flowers turn into purple-black, edible fruits, up to 2000 per cluster!
In late spring to mid-summer lavish, fragrant flat-to dome-shaped clusters of flowers bloom above this arching, multi-stemmed shrub. Late summer into fall the multitude of flowers turn into purple-black, edible fruits, up to 2000 per cluster!
Size: 5-12’ x spreading quickly by suckers. Best to grow as hedge, along a roadside, fence-line or forest edge.
Care: sun to part shade in moist to well-drained soil
Native: Americas east of Rocky Mountains south to Bolivia. Wisconsin native
Wildlife Value: branches and leaves make nesting sites and give cover for birds.. Many birds (including, Pheasant, Bluebird, Cedar waxwing, Cardinal, Mockingbird and others) as well as some mammals eat the sweet, but slightly bitter, fruit. It is a source of pollen for numerous bees and other insects.Collected before 1735. Native Americans made extensive use of this, Cherokee used it topically for boils, burns and infections and internally for rheumatism, fevers, dropsy, as a diuretic, and of course ate the berries. Costanoan made its hollow twigs into pipes, flutes and shafts for arrows. Several Natives infused the flowers and foliage with hot water to make steam baths. And many natives ate it, boiled it, jammed it, and added the fruit to cakes. Today people eat them in jellies, jams, pancakes, pies and wine and make homeopathic medicine from it. Reportedly ripe berries are high in vitamin C and fiber. It’s also an antioxidant.
**LISTED AS OUT OF STOCK BECAUSE WE DO NOT SHIP THIS ITEM. IT IS AVAILABLE FOR PURCHASE AT OUR RETAIL LOCATION.
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Scrophularia macrantha syn. Scrophularia coccinea Redbirds in a Tree, Mimbres figwort Z 5-10
This sub-shrub blooms from early summer until frost with white-lipped cherry-red, tubular flowers that look like a flock of inch-long, baby birds with open mouths waiting for food, each topping short stems along the branches. The margins of its oval green leaves are toothed.
OUT OF STOCK – EMAIL FOR AVAILABILITY
This sub-shrub blooms from early summer until frost with white-lipped cherry-red, tubular flowers that look like a flock of inch-long, baby birds with open mouths waiting for food, each topping short stems along the branches. The margins of its oval green leaves are toothed.
Size: 2-4’ x 18”
Care: sun to part shade in well-drained to moist well-drained soil. Little to no fertilizer.
Native: Three mountain tops in southern New Mexico (high elevations make it hardy to cold regions)
Wildlife Value: Its nectar is one of the best feeders and attractors for hummingbirds. Pollen and nectar also attract butterflies and bees.
Awards: 2008 Plant Select WinnerFirst collected on the Mexican Boundary Expedition by Charles Wright (1811-1885) and John Bigelow (1804-1878), “at the base of a rocky ledge near the summit of a mountain . . .a truly handsome species.” Described by Asa Gray, Torrey, John ed. Report on the United States and Mexican boundary survey Vol. 2 p. 111 (1859)
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Scutellaria incana syn. Scutellaria canescens, Scutellaria villosa Downy skullcap Z 4-9
Flowers of spikes of purple-blue tubes ending in two open lips, the lower lip having a white blotch, blooming for months from July to September, if deadheaded
Flowers of spikes of purple-blue tubes ending in two open lips, the lower lip having a white blotch, blooming for months from July to September, if deadheaded
Size: 2-3’ x 12-18"
Care: sun to part shade in moist well-drained to well-drained soil. Reblooms if deadhead after 1st flush of flowers
Native: NY to WI, Georgia to TX, Wisconsin native
Wildlife Value: Deer resistant. Its nectar feeds small butterflies, Bumblebees and Hummingbirds.The name Scuttelaria is from Latin scutella meaning a small dish or saucer referring to the shape of the persistent calyx, a covering at the flower’s base. Incana means grey referring to the tiny hairs on stems and undersides of leaves giving a greyish color. Named by Johann Friedrich Theodor Biehler, German botanist from the plant specimens in Christian Sprengel’s (1750-1816) herbarium in 1807. How did German botanist Sprengel, who never set foot in America, come to have a pressed specimen of this native American plant? Sprengel and German botanist, minister and college president, Carl Ludwig Willdenow (1765-1812) were close collaborators. Another German botanist Heinrich Ernst Muhlenberg (1753-1815), living in Lancaster Pennsylvania, sent many American plants specimens to Willedenow. Scutellaria incana is native to and grows in what is now called Muhlenberg Meadow in Lancaster County PA. These connections make it likely that the specimen Biehler saw came from Henry Muhlenberg.
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Senna hebecarpa syn. Cassia hebecarpa Wild senna Z 3-8
Six inch long taxicab yellow flower clusters along the stem in July – August
Six inch long taxicab yellow flower clusters along the stem in July – August
Size: 4’ x 2-6’
Care: full sun in moist well-drained soil
Native: all North America east of Mississippi River from Hudson Bay south to Georgia and Tennessee, Wisconsin native
Wildlife Value: attracts bumble bees and wasps. A legume – it adds nitrogen to the soilCollected by 1753.
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Silene regia Royal catchfly Z 5-8
True crimson stars, brighter than a stop light, in July – September, from the prairies.
OUT OF STOCK
True crimson stars, brighter than a stop light, in July – September, from the prairies.
Size: 2-3’ x 1-2’
Care: sun to part shade in moist well-drained soil
Native: from Ohio to Alabama W. to Nebraska, WI native
Wildlife Value: hummingbird favorite.In Greek mythology Silene was a companion of Bacchus who was covered with foam. French plant hunter Andre Michaux may have been the 1st to collect this c. 1800. Grown from seed collected by English planthunter Thomas Nuttall (1786-1859) near St. Louis on the Mississippi River c. 1812.
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Spigelia marilandica Carolina pink, Woodland pinkroot Z 5-9
Stems topped with showy red tubes and fireworks-like yellow, five-pointed stars flare atop the tubes in late spring to early summer, later in the north. Deadhead for rebloom
Stems topped with showy red tubes and fireworks-like yellow, five-pointed stars flare atop the tubes in late spring to early summer, later in the north. Deadhead for rebloom
Size: 12-24” x 6-18”
Care: part to full shade in moist to moist well-drained soil
Native: NJ to Fl west to TX
Wildlife Value: nectar for hummingbirds; deer resistant
Awards: Pennsylvania Horticultural Society Gold Medal 2023Cherokee used this to purge parasites from intestines. In garden by 1753. Philip Miller’s Dictionary “the plant “is esteemed as the best medicine (in North America) yet known for the worms.” (1768) According to Jacob Bigelow in American Medical Botany, 1817 one doctor used it as a purgative and another as a narcotic.
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Sporobolus heterolepsis Prairie dropseed Zone 3 – 9
Mound of graceful thinnest of grass blades
The description in the Chiltern Seeds catalog cannot be improved: “This is the most elegant and refined of the North American prairie grasses …the finest texture composed of the thinnest of thin, thread-like, glossy green blades,.. in autumn turning deep orange before fading to a light copper for the winter. In late summer the plants bear, on very slender stalks high above the foliage, unbelievably delicate, graceful flower panicles, excellent for cutting. ”One of internationally known garden designer Piet Oudolf’s 100 “MUST HAVE” plants, Gardens Illustrated 94 (2013)
Size: 2’ x 2’
Care: Full sun in well-drained soil
Native: from Canada in the north to Texas in the south, Wisconsin native
Wildlife Value: seeds are food for birds
Awards: Missouri Botanic Garden Plant of Merit & Great Plants for Great Plains Grass of the Year.Sporobolos is Greek from sporo meaning seed and ballein meaning to cast forth because the seed readily falls from the flower (or dropseed, the common name). Ojibwa “Medicine Society” used roots to cure sores & “remove bile.”
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Stachys minima syn. Stachys spathulata Dwarf betony Z 5-9
Atop a mound of spatula-shaped, crinkled leaves with scalloped edges rises a bounty of 4 to 5 inch tall spikes, each crowned with a hoard of tiny fuchsia-colored trumpets blowing their horns “look at me” in early to mid-summer.
Atop a mound of spatula-shaped, crinkled leaves with scalloped edges rises a bounty of 4 to 5 inch tall spikes, each crowned with a hoard of tiny fuchsia-colored trumpets blowing their horns “look at me” in early to mid-summer.
Size: 4-8" x 8-12" spreading slowly by rhizomes
Care: sun to part shade in moist well-drained soil
Native: South Africa
Wildlife Value: Deer resistant. Attracts small bees and butterfliesEnglish adventurer and naturalist William John Burchell (1781-1863) scoured South Africa from 1803 to 1815 collecting more than 50,000 specimens packed in 48 crates. In places unexplored he found insects, animals, fish and unknown plants, this being one. Although he published two volumes of his exploration, he did not finish the last, third volume, leaving another to write the botany. Premier English botanist George Bentham (1800-1884) took up the task authoring Labiatarum Genera et Species, published in 1834. He wrote the first published description and named this tiny plant with outsized charm.
