Native Plants That Attract Hummingbirds

Susan Taylor is co-owner of Wildside Growers & Landscaping. The nursery specializes in Pacific Northwest native wildflowers and shrubs.

Hummingbirds prefer natural sources of nectar to prepared sugar solutions. Use native trees, shrubs and wildflowers. Our local wildlife has evolved in association with our local native plants. There is a mutual need or interdependence between plants and hummingbirds. As the hummer pushes its bill inside the flower to lick the nectar it needs, it rubs against stamens and pistils. This pollen is then deposited on the next flower. The flower requires a pollinator. The bird needs a source of high-energy nectar.

The perfect hummingbird flower has long, tube-shaped blooms. Single flowers usually have more nectar and the nectar is more accessible than in double flowers. There is usually no platform on which to land and feed as with flowers that attract butterflies. The flowers should be widely spaced along the stem to accommodate whirring wings since the hummingbird does not land to feed. Native wildflowers fit all of these requirements.

Note: the ‘spp.’ after the genus name means that there are multiple species of that genus that are considered good hummingbird plants.

Spring-Blooming Native Shrubs and VinesRed-Flowering Currant Ribes sanguineumIndian Plum Oemleria cerasiformisSalmonberry Rubus spectabilisTrumpet Honeysuckle Lonicera ciliosa

Spring-Blooming Native PerennialsCamas Camassia spp.Bleeding Heart Dicentra formosaIris Iris spp.Cluster Lily Brodiaea congestaTrout Lily Erythronium oreganumChocolate Lily Fritillaria lanceolataPrairie Smoke Geum triflorumBlue-Eyed Grass Sisyrinchium spp.

Summer-Blooming Native Shrubs and VinesMock Orange Philadelphus lewisiiOcean Spray Holodiscus discolorBirchleaf Spiraea Spiraea betulifoliaHairy Honeysuckle Lonicera hispidula

Summer-Blooming Native PerennialsNodding Onion Allium cernuumSea Thrift Armeria maritimaLupine Lupinus spp.Wild Bergamot Monarda fistulosaSitka Columbine Aquilegia formosaMonkeyflower Mimulus spp.Penstemons Penstemon spp.Harsh Paintbrush Castilleja hispida