22 Flowers to Attract Hummingbirds

It's a real treat when hummingbirds visit the garden, zipping about for a meal of nectar or insects. Hummingbirds get most of their food in the form of nectar, either from flowers or the hummingbird feeders hanging in our gardens. Including nectar-rich flowers that attract hummingbirds in your garden plan will entice more of these winged wonders.

Penstemon, also known as beardtongue, has everything that makes an ideal hummingbird flower: long, tubular blooms (the shape is hard for insects to sip nectar from but easy for hummingbirds), sweet nectar and a flower spike filled with lots of little blossoms. Penstemon grows best in sandy or gravelly soil with little fertilizer. These are perennials, with varieties hardy from Zones 3-9. Check out the following flowers that hummingbirds love for more options for your garden.

Hummingbirds love delphinium, which blooms in early summer. Height for these perennials can average anywhere from 2 to 8 feet tall, depending on variety. Delphinium requires rich soil, and areas with relatively cool summers. Also, delphinium is a classic cottage garden plant. Every part of the plant is poisonous. Deer and rabbits leave it alone — and so should your pets.

Want to add a vertical element to your midsummer garden? Consider gayfeather, whose purple, lavender or white spires are like 3-foot-tall exclamation points. Butterflies and hummingbirds are big fans of this sun-loving perennial.

Irresistible to hummingbirds, Chilean glory flower is a fast-growing evergreen that offers a profusion of red-orange tubular flowers tipped with yellow from late spring to fall. The light green leaves are small and boldly veined on this climber.