Gardening For Hummingbirds

Confession time: I have been the biggest procrastinator going on developing a proper bird refuge here. Sure, got the feeders up years ago. Sure, have water, and boxes, and brush piles. But native plants...way behind schedule. Bit by bit this is changing. The star of the show is still the Trumpet Vine (shown) we inherited from the previous homeowner. It's a huge hummingbird draw and should be flowering any day now. Our Morning Glory always does well, and we have some frustratingly unflowersome Wild Grape and Virginia Creeper that ought to do something one day here. I've been adding others in the past two seasons. We have Columbine now, which I hope survives, which is also a hummer favorite. I'm coaxing along some Crossvine and Coral Honeysuckle. Not sure yet that they're safe. Both, again, are good for hummingbirds. And it doesn't end there. The gardens and yard have at least one representative of Solomon's Seal, Green Headed Coneflower, Lambs Ear, Wild Ginger, Snakeroot, Jack in the Pulpit, Butterfly Weed, and Toothwort that all have great wildlife value in the Piedmont. The trick will be to see how durable these little jewels are. As of today, they are all green. If they do catch and propogate, things will get much more interesting in future years!