So I have been thinking about the children's garden I plan to plant next year a lot today. I think the kids would love to see hummingbirds and butterflies hanging around our garden, and I know I would! So here is what I have learned, starting with gardening for hummingbirds.
Here in Utah we commonly get broad-tailed hummingbirds and black-chinned hummingbirds. The rufous hummingbird also visits during its fall migration. I read here that it has been conjectured that hummingbirds cover every square meter of the U.S. looking for food (which is amazing to me and explains why my mom gets hummingbirds to her feeder relatively high on the balcony of an apartment complex in the middle of a city).
Recommendations are to place multiple feeders around the yard so no one bird can claim them all. Of course, cleaning the feeders and providing the nectar will require diligence. Also recommended is to provide some sort of dripping or misting water for birds to bathe in.
The question of what to plant is a difficult one. There are many plants offered up as good hummingbird attractors. I would like to plant mostly native plants. I have a lot more research to do here, but I am finding the question of what is native to my area is not as easy to answer as I thought it would be!
This spring I will definitely put up some hummingbird feeders. I will also choose two or three plants to add for their enjoyment. I hope we get hummers!
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