We love hummingbirds, and always have a feeder filled with sugar water hanging outside our kitchen window. In Southern California we have the Allen’s Hummingbird, the Black chinned Hummingbird, and the Anna’s Hummingbird. The Anna’s doesn’t migrate, so we enjoy them all year round. I’d been thinking of starting a hummingbird garden for quite awhile, so the birds would be attracted to our yard, and not always dependent on the sugar water mixture in the feeder.

Two days ago we visited our local nursery and with the help of one of the garden professionals, who was a fellow hummingbird lover, we arrived home with seven plants that hummingbirds favor. The beautiful pink blossomed plant above is the Salvia gregii.

Here you see the Salvia Black and Blue. Notice the tubular blossoms. They are perfect for the hummingbird’s long beak, an interesting characteristic of Salvia plants.This pineapple sage is the plant I’d planned to make the first addition to our hummingbird garden. I’ve been promised spires of cardinal red blooms. I can’t wait, and apparently neither can the hummingbirds. I’ve read that here in Southern California, where we rarely have hard freezes, the blooms may continue all year. There are many uses for this plant, including tossing a few of the red flowers in salads. Amazing!

I’ve included only three of the plants we’ve made part of our hummingbird garden in this latest post. Today I’ll be out taking more photos of the garden and hopefully some of the little residents enjoying a sip of nectar. I’ll include the remainder of the plants next time.