A sustaining joy in my life is my garden of plants, our nursery, that Bill and I have created over the course of nineteen years. And it's this wild hodge-podge of plants that have inevitably led us to where we are today….HOOKED ON HUMMERS!  As it turns out, our nursery is a virtual zoo of hummingbirds in spring, summer and fall. Meandering in the prairie sky overhead, they must see our hummer haven below, chock full of the magnet plants Mother Nature has designed just for them. Spring and summer flowering natives like columbine, honeysuckle and cardinal flower, and exotic salvias, agastaches, and a host of other tender tropicals. By growing these plants in our natural habitat of prairie and forest, Bill and I have innocently created this hummer magnet on the Illinois prairie. We spend many hours enjoying our ruby throated friends in aerial acrobatics, zipping about from plant to plant, briefly resting on our purple gazebo, then flying off high in the tree canopy only to be replaced by rivaling hummers. Visiting city gardeners are astounded by this hummer show, and always long for their own hummer haven. While it may be more challenging in a city environment to lure and enjoy hungry hummers, it certainly isn't impossible to provide habitat and a food source.

Our nursery is full of nectar rich plants that hummers love and require for their high metabolic rate…it is not difficult to provide them with a spring, summer, and fall source of nectar by planting native perennials, tropicals, and flowering woody plants like Wegeila and Lonicera. The more densely planted, the better. Our city dwelling friends Horti and Suze attracted an off-course rufous hummingbird-quite rare in the Midwest-- one day in late autumn with a planting of fall blooming salvias. Their garden is a naturalized habitat perched in the middle of the city. For more hummer news, and important information about using hummingbird feeders, I highly recommend visiting www.hummingbirds.net, which is written and sponsored by St. Louisan Lanny Chambers, an expert on hummingbird biology and behavior.

Create a user friendly garden of trees, shrubs and flowering plants especially attractive to hummingbirds. Hummers spend eighty per cent of their time perching. We see them perched on tree limbs and on our many iron arbors that we have planted with bait vines like Manettia, morning glory and Lonicera.

It is very unwise and unproductive to use pesticides in your yard and garden, as they may possibly poison visiting hummers, and will likely destroy tiny insects that comprise the bulk of the hummingbirds's diet.

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Hummer Haven Container Collection # 2
The beauties in this container are guaranteed to lure hummers! The container centerpiece, Agastache 'Tutti Frutti' sends multiple spikes of purple-pink tubular flowers skyward throughout the summer on stems packed with fruity, fragrant leaves. Filling in are Salvia 'Marischino', a delight of cherry-red blossoms and Cuphea 'Firespark', with red 'cigar' blooms tipped in white and black. Breynia offers a lovely pattern of round pink, cream and green leaves on wine red stems. Skirting container's edge is Coleus 'Tiny Toes' a beautiful, low carpet of tiny and frilly leaves, painted red, green and cream. Plants are shipped in one quart containers measuring 3.5 inches across and 6 inches deep.
Total $45.00 (shipping price included)
1 each Agastache 'Tutti Fruttii'
1 each Salvia 'Marischino'
1 each Breynia roseo-picta (Hawaiian Snow Bush)
1 each Cuphea ignea 'Firespark'
2 each Coleus 'Tiny Toes'