Hummingbird Plants

The large violet colored flowers emerge from loose purple tinged spikes and calyxes from spring to fall attracting hummingbirds and other garden beneficials. Cool Violet Salvia, a selection or hybrid of the Little Leaf or Mountain Sage, Salvia microphylla, boasts excellent vigor and flower power with flowering beginning early and continuing reliably through summer and into fall. In areas where hard freezes do not occur, The Mountain Sages may develop a shrubby semi-woody base, while in zone 8 and colder, established plants act more like herbaceous perennials dying back to near ground level and returning in early spring. Enjoy these colorful pollinator attractors in the garden and landscape or as rewarding and forgiving container specimens. Provide full sun to partly shaded sites in well-drained, fertile soils for optimum vigor and flowering. Images courtesy of Jadelty Plant Propagation Nursery, all rights reserved. Item# 13148

Coming again for 2022! The Coral Firecracker Fern produces loads of 1" salmon tubular flowers that are born in large loose clusters along the arching ferny stems throughout the warmer months of the year or nearly year round where winters are mild. Excellent for Hummingbirds! Plant it with the red and yellow for a colorful combination. This is a durable and long-lived, clump forming perennial that requires little additional care once well-established. The Firecracker Fern has excellent heat and sun tolerance as well as moderate drought resistance once well-established. It is even listed as being suitable for xeriscaping. Firecracker Fern, Russelia equisetiformis, is listed as a Texas A&M Outstanding Coastal Plant as it has excellent resistance to soil and wind born salts, though it could use some protection from harsh, drying winds. It is also an RHS Award of Garden Merit selection. It can be used as a low informal hedge, allow it to spill over walls, enjoy it as a hanging basket, window box, or container specimen, as well as in mixed container gardens. Item# 992

Beautiful deep red to coral, yellow throated tubular blooms are born from spring to fall. Attracts hummingbirds and occasional butterflies. Its tame habit and long blooming season make this manageable Honeysuckle an choice for covering a fence, arbor or trellis. Caterpillar host: Chalcedon Checkerspot. Item# 1171.

1/2" wide coral pink to orange flowers adorn the long spike-like flowering stems that are held above the foliage and the plants flower from spring to first frost or year round under warm frost free conditions. The nectar laden flowers are seemingly in constant use by hummingbirds, butterflies, and larger bees from just after dawn to near dusk. Coral Porterweed, Stachytarpheta mutabilis, is a vigorous growing, heat and sunloving, herbaceous shrubby tropical growing to about 4-5' high and wide by the end of summer. Porterweeds are a mainstay of butterfly houses due to their reliable and ample nectar production and it is an important nectar source for many overwintering hummingbirds in Central and South America. This species is also known as Pink Porterweed, Orange Porterweed, Pink Snakeweed. Item# 372

Correll's False Dragonhead is a rare but wonderful, seemingly more refined garden species that is as vigorous as it is beautiful. The dense spikes of purplish-pink, tubular, often speckled, flowers are held atop sturdy, 3' high stems in summer. Like most other Physostegias, Correll's False Dragonhead does spread by large rhizomes even in average soils. The leaves of this species are toothed, widest in the middle, sessile, and are almost always a rich dark green. Item# 10236.

Costa Rican Blue Salvia produces large spikes of exceptionally large bluish purple tubular flowers that emerge from darkly colored calyxes in summer and fall above the soft, somewhat bluish green foliage. Considered by some to be a selection of Salvia guaranitica, and possibly a tetraploid or hybrid, it differs in its larger more robust habit, larger flowers that start later in the summer, and its very pubescent foliage. Excellent for hummingbirds and other long tongued pollinators. Provide a full sun to part shade location in an average moist to moist acidic well-drained moderately fertile soil for optimum vigor and flowering. Item#10233

Crushed Coral Mamou Bean produces tall spikes of dark coral pink, 2-3" tubular flowers in late spring and early summer atop sturdy stems that are held well above the foliage of this tough native perennial. The Mamou Bean is a drought tolerant and hardy shrublet that freezes back to the ground to return in spring. The flowers are followed by dark colored bean pods that split open to display their brilliant red-orange beans that can remain on the plant all winter. Excellent for Hummingbirds.  Crushed Coral Mamou Bean is an Almost Eden exclusive introduction. Caterpillar host: Holly Blue. Item# 10751

Huge 18-24" long spikes of deep coral-red to red-orange, 2" long pea-like flowers are produced in cycles throughout the warmer months of the year on new growth. The specialized flowers are designed for hummingbird pollination but may also be visited by larger bees and occasional butterflies. The Crybaby or Cockspur Coral Tree, Erythrina crista-galli, is considered to be one of the most cold hardy and free flowering of the Coral Trees. This is a rarely available and highly desirable fast-growing, heat and sunloving, deciduous tropical tropical tree to large shrub growing to about 15-20' high in zones 9B-10 but is typically closer to 10' high in zones 8B-9A. Once well-established, the plants are somewhat drought resistant and are slightly salt tolerant. Provide a full sun to mostly sunny site in an average moist to moist , fertile soil for optimum vigor and flowering. Protect young plants from harsh freezing temperatures until the trunk becomes woody and has grown to about 5-6" diameter if planting out in zone 8B-9A. Young plants can be overwintered indoors in a warm sunny window until they get to an appropriate size for planting out. The huge flower clusters are utilized as cutflowers in its native range and it is also the national tree of Argentina, the national flower of both Uruguay and Argentina, and is the city tree of Los Angeles as it makes a fantastic, low-maintenance street tree. A Royal Horticulture Society Award of Garden Merit Award winner for its reliablity and flower power. Item# 9137

1" long tubular fiery orange flowers are produced throughout the growing season on compact well-branched plants attracting low flying hummingbirds, larger butterflies and especially Sulphurs, and potentially bees. Cubano™ Presidente Cigar Plant, a hybrid Cuphea similar to the perennially popular David Verity, was selected for its more refined compact 10-12"H habit making it an excellent filler in mixed container gardens or use it in specimen containers, as well as a colorful addition to the sunny garden and landscape. Cupheas are heat and sunloving tropicals with excellent flower power and will perform best in a full to mostly sunny, average moist, fertile soil. Images courtesy of Danziger, all rights reserved. Item# 13313

New for 2023! The large flowers are composed of deep fuschia hoods and tubes that are subtended by large creamy apricot colored lower lips providing a sweet contrast. Cuello Cream Pink Salvia, a hybrid developed by the UK's Salvia guru David Dyson of Dyson's Nurseries, was selected for its profusion of sweetly colored flowers, reliability, and bushy habit making it a useful container specimen as well as a colorful addition to a sunny garden or landscape. The flowers attract hummingbirds, larger bees, and the occasional butterfly. In areas where hard freezes do not occur, this sage may develop a shrubby semi-woody base, while in zone 8 and colder, established plants act more like herbaceous perennials dying back to near ground level and returning in early spring. Provide a full sun to partly shaded site in well-drained, average moist, fertile soils for optimum vigor and flowering. Images courtesy of Jadelty Plant Propagation Nursery, all rights reserved. Item# 13168

New for 2023! The large pink flowers are subtely two-toned with lighter pink lower lips complementing the near fuchsia colored hood and tube all borne from darker tinged spikes and calyxes and are produced from spring to fall. Cuello Pink Salvia, a hybrid developed by the UK's Salvia guru David Dyson of Dyson's Nurseries, was selected for its profusion of sweetly colored flowers, reliability, and bushy habit making it a useful container specimen as well as a colorful addition to a sunny garden or landscape. The flowers attract hummingbirds, larger bees, and the occasional butterfly. In areas where hard freezes do not occur, this sage may develop a shrubby semi-woody base, while in zone 8 and colder, established plants act more like herbaceous perennials dying back to near ground level and returning in early spring. Provide a full sun to partly shaded site in well-drained, average moist, fertile soils for optimum vigor and flowering. Images courtesy of Jadelty Plant Propagation Nursery, all rights reserved. Item# 13149

Elegant, pure white, 3" wide hibiscus flowers seemingly glow against the foil of exceptionally dark green tropical foliage. Dainty White Hibiscus is a non-stop bloomer that puts on a show practically throughout the year and barely even slows down only for the shortest and coolest days of winter. This vigorous Hibiscus has an upright to spreading growth habit and makes a beautiful specimen plant whether grown as a shrub or a small tree standard. Dainty White is almost constantly visited by a variety of bees, butterflies, and hummingbirds. Caterpillar host: Gray hairstreak. Item# 379.

A CSU Trial Gardens 2020 Top Performer! The dark burgundy to near black, glossy foliage is to die for but wait it gets better as in late spring or early summer, tall sturdy spikes ascend above the dark foliage and are composed of lavender to purple, 1" long, nectar rich, tubular flowers that eventually develop into decorative dark purple round seed pods. DAKOTA™ Burgundy Penstemon, a flower child of Penstemon digitalis, is more compact than and has darker foliage than Dark Towers and Mystica Penstemons and it has more purple colored flowers and improved reliability easily surviving for 3 years in CSU's trials. Provide this easy to grow perennial, a nativar (a cultivar from native species), with a moist to average moist, well-drained, fertile soil in a full to mostly sunny location for optimum vigor, flowering, and for the deepest foliage colors. Pair DAKOTA™ Burgundy Penstemon with chartreuse foliaged plants for a wonderful contrast. The flowers attract a variety of polliinators including hummingbirds, bees, and occasional larger butterflies. Photos courtesy of Terra Nova Nurseries, Inc., www.terranovanurseries.com, all rights reserved. Item# 12856

An exceptionally free flowering form of our native Coral Honeysuckle producing a nearly continuous display of red tubular blooms with a yellow throat. Dan's Everblooming Coral Honeysuckle begins flowering in late winter and early spring and lasts through fall on established plants. This variety may produce a few flowers throughout winter even in zone 8B. Caterpillar host: Chalcedon Checkerspot. Item# 9729.

Dense whorls of nectar rich, purple to dark blue-purple, tubular flowers seemingly cover up the upper most portions of the plant for weeks beginning in mid to late summer and continuing into fall. Dark Knight Bluebeard, a.k.a. Black Knight, is a vigorous and easy sunloving free-flowering clump forming shrub-like perennial that quickly develops into a dense mound of fragrant and deer resistant gray-green foliage. In zones 5-6 it tends to act more like a clump forming die-back perennial and becomes more shrub-like where winters are milder although it benefits from hard late winter or early spring pruning since it flowers on new growth. Somewhat drought resistant once well-established and prefers a sunny site in a well-drained soil for optimum vigor and flowering. Item# 12117

1" tubular orange blooms, tipped in white, are produced from spring to fall on this upright to spreading shrub-like perennial. David Verity Cigar Plant is an easy to grow, heat and sunloving hybrid Cuphea that flowers non-stop from spring or early summer through fall. In the portion of its range where freezes occur, it can be grown as an annual or if protected with a mulch it is generally a reliable perennial well into zone 8. David Verity Cuphea makes for an easy and rewarding container specimen as well as in the garden and landscape. Excellent for hummingbirds and larger butterflies. Item # 361

Large, rounded clusters composed of nearly 1" wide, fragrant, pure white flowers sit atop sturdy stems in summer and are sure to attract butterflies, hummingbirds and other pollinators. David's Garden Phlox has exceptional disease resistance and was selected as the 2002 Perennial Plant of the Year. Garden Phlox is also known as Summer Border Phlox or Fall Phlox, it is a hardy clump forming, upright growing herbaceous perennial found throughout much of the eastern and central US. Item# 10830.

Spikes of comparatively large, two-lipped tubular flowers are a brilliant dayglow pink with a contrasting small white throat and are produced from late spring or summer into fall attracting hummingbirds, larger bees, and occassional butterflies. Dayglow Salvia is new to the US in 2021, an Autumn Sage and Littleleaf Sage hybrid, with a long flowering habit, sturdy disposition and a naturally upright to rounded habit. This shrub-like perennial may remain evergreen in mild winter climates, like zones 9B-10, but acts like a die-back perennial where temperatures fall much below about 30^oF. Perfectly suited for use as a low-maintenance container specimen or add it to a sunny garden or landscape for traffic stopping, summer-long color. Provide a full to mostly sunny site in well-drained, average moist, fertile soils for maximum flower power. Item# 12550

Vivid red tubular flowers emerge from dark colored calyxes on lax spikes from late spring to fall on a compact plant with rich deep green foliage. The two creamy yellow anthers that emerge from the top of the red tubular flowers explain the cultivar name. Diablo Eyelash-Leaved Sage, often shortened to simply Diablo Salvia, makes a great addition to the hummingbird garden or its compact and full habit lends it to use in small to medium sized containers. This neat and free flowering perennial, slowly spreading Salvia hails from Mexico and was introduced by Yucca Do Nursery. Item# 11179

Masses of deep brick red trumpet shaped flowers nearly cover up this vine in spring or early summer just in time for arriving hummingbirds. It's almost like the two coordinate it or something! The red Dragon Lady Crossvine is a vigorous evergreen to semi-evergreen clinging vine(it does so via pads on the end of its tendrils and so is not destructive to brickwork and masonry) that can easily clamber up or along masonry, tree bark, fences, or other structural supports on its own. Crossvines are a low maintenance choice for fences, posts, arbors, and larger trellises. The deep red trumpet shaped flowers attract hummingbirds, bees, and other pollinators. The foliage takes on purple and burgundy coloration throughout the cooler months when grown in full to mostly sunny conditions. Dragon Lady Crossvine is reported to be a slightly more cold hardy selection and was chosen as the Pennsylvania Horticulture Society's Gold Medal Award winner in 2003. Item# 391

Clusters of scarlet tubular flowers with orange throats are produced from late spring to fall on this easy to grow and vigorous Honeysuckle. Dropmore Scarlet is an old and popular selection of Brown's Honeysuckle that is also a hit with hummingbirds and other pollinators. Caterpillar host: Chalcedon Checkerspot. The flowers may be followed by clusters of showy bright showy red berries that are enjoyed by birds and other wildlife. Provide a full to mostly sunny position and a well-drained, average moist soil for the best results. Item# 11161

Tall spikes adorned with whorls of 3/8" purple flowers edged in light lavender are produced throughout the growing season and the nectar rich flowers attract butterflies, bees, hummingbirds, and even hummingbird moths. From the breeding work of the Durham twins of east Texas, Darrell and Jerrell, comes this unusual picoteed color form of Porterweed. These are vigorous well-branched herbaceous to shrub-like tropical perennials that revel in the heat and sun of summer providing a continuous display of flowers and pollinators until the first frost. The flower power of Porterweeds makes them worthy of being grown as annuals where not hardy or they can be overwintered as container plants in a warm sunny location indoors. Provide a full to mostly sunny location with average or better drainage and moderate fertility for optimum vigor and flowering. Item# 11967