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Blueprint To A Hummingbird Garden Part 2

By Susan Nelson Hopkins

(For the rest of this article, see...
Blueprint to a Hummingbird Garden-Part 1)

Now that you know which shrubs and flowers to plant in your hummingbird garden, the next essentials are water, shelter, and food.

Step 2: Provide Water Misters to Attract Hummingbirds to Your Garden…

Just a simple hose attachment aimed into the air makes a nice arching spray, and will work just fine. As long as it's beyond the range of cats and dogs, it will draw hummingbirds like a magnet!

It's also helpful to direct a mister toward shrubs to turn leaves into miniature water-puddle bathtubs.

Territory squabbles are often forgotten in playfulness... and on very hot days, it's essential for them to cool down.

If the hummingbirds are brave and let you get close enough, be prepared for a unique experience. (You'll know where to look when you see tiny water droplet splashes.) These little feather-weights often snuggle into water caught in cupped leaves, and have a splashing good time.

Step 3: Locate Potential Hummingbird Nesting Shrubs and Trees Near Water and in Secluded Garden Niches…

Their usual choice is a downward-slopping, lichen-covered limb or branch. The nest is situated on a branch crotch or a bud scale.

The female hummingbird weaves a collection of downy materials (dandelion seed puffs, cottonwood puffs, and feathers) with spider webs. She'll also include bud scales for strength, attaching them with spit. Finally, lichen is woven and spit-glued to the exterior to blend with the branch.

Are you ready for this? A hummingbird nest is an engineering marvel the size of a walnut half-shell. It's plenty big, though, because she lays two pea-sized eggs. To really put it in perspective, each little egg is the size of HALF a jelly bean!

Step 4: Hang Several Hummingbird Feeders - At Least One Feeder Should Be Isolated...

Male hummingbirds are extremely territorial. If you have a "bully" or two, give them small feeders all their own. Hang them where you can enjoy watching them, yet satisfy their need for "ownership".

Make sure to locate a large feeder just for the females. It should be hidden from view of the other feeders to enable the females to have plenty of nectar while nesting and raising their young.

Step 5: Prepare for the Next Hummingbird Migration...

This part of the Hummingbird Garden Blueprint is a delayed step, but it's an essential element for "your" hummingbirds' survival.

Depending on your location, some males will start migrating as early as July or August. Females and youngsters start leaving late August and September.

This means these tiny machines need plenty of fuel for their journeys... and your hummingbird feeders can be their life line. So keep close watch on the feeder levels... they’ll need replenishing more often.

You might also keep the feeders up for a while after "your" hummers have left. There may be some stragglers from further north needing an extra boost to help them on their way south.

Well... there you have it. A simple 5-part blueprint to create a hummingbird garden landscape. You may even have some of the elements already.

By the way, you'll also enjoy a freebie. Butterflies are also attracted by many of the same elements! (But that’s another article…)
 

Susan Nelson Hopkins is from Carlsbad, NM. She writes for a unique group of four family-friendly website collections... Susan's Gardens (a group of gardening sites), the Eyes-Only-Club (includes several family sites), Hopkins-Enterprises (includes links to sites focused on family-friendly activities and topics)., and BirdsnBugsnBees (kids' gardening site).
 

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