NATIVE HUMMINGBIRD PLANTS

© Bill Hilton Jr.

This "unruly" patch of native Trumpet Creeper vine (Campsis radicans) provides shelter for many songbirds in winter, and by mid-summer it produces hundreds of orange-red tubular flowers that are "hummingbird magnets.

Ruby-throated Hummingbirds (Archilochus colubris) evolved from tropical hummingbirds that likely lived among the lush forests and grasslands around the equatorial belt. As they radiated into North America, these hummingbirds became adapted to feeding on new species of insects and plants that were endemic to the eastern U.S., southern Canada, Mexico, and Central America.

When providing habitat for hummingbirds, many gardeners prefer to stick with native plants that historically were found in the local region. Others select plants that grow somewhere within the ruby-throat's natural range; for example, a gardener in Atlanta might also plant Mexican Sage that grows where ruby-throats overwinter--even though the plant is not found naturally in the state of Georgia.

In this section of the Operation RubyThroat website, you will find information about plants that occur within the summer or winter ranges of the Ruby-throated Hummingbird. You may wish to consult guides to the plants of your local area to determine whether these plants occur naturally where you live.

NOTE: When establishing a Native Plant Hummingbird Habitat, please remember to use ONLY plants you have purchased from a reputable nursery that propagates them from seed or cuttings. Do NOT collect plants from the wild or patronize nurseries that do so. Native wild plants are under constant threats due to development, habitat destruction, unscrupulous collectors, and vandals; it is simply not acceptable for hummingbird fanciers to take native plants from the wild except to save them from destruction due to human activities.

Go to "Top Ten" Native Hummingbird Plants

Back to Hummingbird Gardens; on to Exotic Hummingbird Plants or to Hummingbird Feeders

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Operation RubyThroat is a registered trademark of Bill Hilton Jr. and Hilton Pond Center for Piedmont Natural History in York, South Carolina USA, phone (803) 684-5852. Contents of the overall project and this website--including photos--may NOT be duplicated, modified, or used in any way except with the express written permission of the author. To obtain permission or for further assistance on accessing this website, contact Webmaster.