![]() Garden Phlox ( Phlox paniculata ) – Another summer perennial, this fragrant garden phlox is perfect for the cottage garden.Plant them in mass as a beacon for hummingbirds and other pollinators. Look for the native ‘Jeana’ in purple or newer varieties in dwarf sizes (12-15”), mounded forms and larger blooms. Bee Balm ( Monarda didyma ) – A member of the mint family, bee balm is a long-blooming perennial that thrives in full sun.Try ‘Blue Fortune’ (24-36”) or the more compact Kudos and Poquito series (10-12”). Grow in full sun and well-drained soil in a bed, border or rock garden. Hummingbird mint ( Agastache ) – This fragrant perennial boasts large spikes of tubular flowers that bloom over a long season from summer into fall.After they flower, cut salvias back by one third for a second round of blooms. Plant them in full sun in landscape beds or containers. Try the classic purple ‘May Night’, newer ‘Skyscraper’ series or heat-tolerant ‘Black & Bloom’ with black stems and purple flowers. Salvia ( Salvia nemorosa ) – Salvias are an absolute hummingbird magnet with their vivid spikes in purples, pinks, reds and whites.They love bright colors and tubular blooms perfect for their long beaks and lapping tongues. We hope you’ll join us in supporting these amazing pollinators with a buffet of nectar-rich flowers. Researchers estimate they visit as many as 3,000 individual flowers in a single day and consume 1.5 times their body weight daily. So, we’re happy to give them a big welcome with a nectar feeder and plenty of their favorite flowering plants. If that’s not amazing enough, they travel 1,000 miles from Mexico to mate here and raise their young. They sustain this crazy-high energy level with a carbohydrate diet of nectar and tree sap plus protein-rich insects they catch in flight. Their wings move in a figure-eight pattern allowing them to fly 25-30 mile per hour, hover in mid-air and even fly backward. They’re super cute with their ruby-throats, itty-bitty size and impressive flying skills. What’s not to love about hummingbirds? We love how they buzz about Groovy Plants Ranch pollinating our salvias, phlox and fuchsias.
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