Birders
who want to host hummingbirds in their backyards need to plan
bird-friendly landscaping, especially flowers that attract hummingbirds.
Flowers that are especially adapted for hummingbird pollination are long
and tube-shaped and often red. Browse through our alphabetical list of
native Florida plants and find the ones that are best suited for your
yard or garden!
Obedient
Plant (Physostegia
spp)- Obedient plant is also known as False Dragonhead. The plant has
opposite lance shaped leaves and bears showy spikes of light purple
flowers in September and also earlier. The large tubular flowers have
white areas on margins and interior. The common name "obedient plant"
results from the fact that the flowers will remain in place after being
moved. The other name "False Dragonhead" results from the flower's
similarity to a Snapdragon. The plant is easily cultivated and used as
an ornamental perennial. In fertile soil it can become a weed pest.
Obedient plant occurs in swamps, stream banks, ditches, seepages, damp
meadows and prairies, moist open woodlands, bogs, and pine savannas.
Obedient plant is happy in either sunny or lightly shaded spots, but it
does best with some shade on drier sites, and full sun where it is
wetter. This is a wonderful plant to add luminous rosy lavender late
season color to the bronzy golds and yellows of a damp meadow. It holds
its own with grasses very well. And it is classified as deer resistant,
so it should bloom well in places where deer would eat the tasty buds
off other flowers.
Red
Basil (Calamintha coccinea)- The red basil plant is an upright,
woody, smooth to slightly hairy perennial. It's preferred habitat is
poor soils, flat pine woods and at roadsides. Red basil distribution is
coastal in the Escambia region of Florida. The red basil leaves are
opposite on the stem, consisting of one whole part that is small and
egg-shaped. Re basil's stalk is tapering to the tip with sides less than
equal. Its margins are toothed and the base is heart-shaped and attached
to the stalk between lobes. Red basil flowers are in a panicle or a
raceme. Calyx is long-lipped; corolla is red; two stamens and extending
beyond the corolla. Flowering season is in the summer. Red Basil fruit
is an ovary with two or more seed chambers. This plant is attractive to
bees, butterflies and birds. It is important to pinch this variety back,
as with all basil, in order to keep it from getting leggy. This produces
a dense, round little plant.
Red
Buckeye (Aesculus pavia)- Usually a single-stemmed,
rather open shrub with palmate leaves, the red buckeye has spikes of
showy red flowers, 4-8 inches. long. The flowers are pollinated by
ruby-throated hummingbirds in spring. Foliage drops naturally in late
summer. Brown, egg-shaped fruit in the fall replaces the flower. A good
accent plant for large shaded areas, the red buckeye works well as an
understory shrub or at the front edge of a wooded area. Red buckeye
occurs in mesic woods and ravines from North Carolina to central Florida
and west to southern Illinois and eastern Texas. It usually is found in
the understory of beech-magnolia forests or on bluffs along wooded
streams. Red buckeye grows best in rich soil in filtered shade. This
colorful plant tolerates brief flooding.
Red
Star Hibiscus (Hibiscus
coccineus)- Star Hibiscus, also known as Scarlet
Rose Mallow or Swamp Hibiscus, is a slender, multi-branched perennial.
Hardy in zones 7-10 and native to swamps, marshy areas and roadside
ditches in the Southeastern United States, this hibiscus is known for
its large red flowers, opening five to six inches in diameter. According
to Dr. William C. Welch, Professor and Landscape Horticulturist at Texas
A&M University, Texas Star Hibiscus in classified as a giant rose mallow
and has the largest flowers of any hardy perennial. The single,
five-petal blooms last a day, with new flowers quickly taking their
place. Both butterflies and hummingbirds are attracted to the red Texas
Star Hibiscus blossoms. These flowers are an important source of nectar,
especially for large butterflies, and the bright color and sheer
quantity of blooms will attract hummingbirds to further explore your
garden. Texas red star hibiscus is a very hardy plant that sports
beautiful five-pointed red flowers for almost the entire summer growing
season. Each flower, which can be quite large, lasts only a day, but a
healthy Texas red star hibiscus can blossom up to several dozen flowers
in a single day. These plants like lots of sun and also lots of water
since they are related to the swamp mallow. They attract bees,
butterflies and birds and can grow to a height of 7 feet.
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