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Add Interest to Your Landscape With Hummingbirds

You spend hours every spring getting your landscape ready for the summer months when you will be able to enjoy the outdoors and all of your hard work. There are only so many place you can add those extra plants and flowers that until your carefully designed garden crosses that imaginary line between beautiful and just too much. Add to your garden by attracting hummingbirds with feeders and plants.

Putting up a hummingbird feeder in the early spring, even if they have not been sighted yet, will prepare for their arrival in Northern Virginia toward the end of March. Hummingbirds feed by sight on their regularly-followed routes and are naturally inquisitive, eagerly leading them to discover new food sources and bring them back for more.

Plants that naturally attract hummingbirds are actually not very fragrant, since hummingbirds have almost no capability of smelling – like most birds. Instead, they are drawn toward high visibility and nectar producing plants.

A variety of trees and shrubs actually attract hummingbirds, such as Azalea, Butterfly Bush, Flame Acanthus, Lantana, Mimosa and Red Buckeye. Tree Tobacco, Coral Honeysuckle, Morning Glory and Scarlet Runner Bean also provide food for hummingbirds. Perennials including Canna, Columbine, Coral Bells, Hosta, Hummingbird Mint (Agastache) and Lupine make for great hummingbird meals. Annuals such as Fuchsia, Impatiens and Pentunia draw them in as well.

For more advice on how to build your own hummingbird garden, or how to simply incorporate these plants, trees and shrubs into your existing landscape, contact the experts at Lost Creek Landscapes. Lost Creek Landscapes provides a full suite of landscaping and hardscaping services in such areas as Vienna, Chevy Chase, and Middleburg, and is fully licensed and insured throughout Virginia, Maryland, and Washington DC.