Want to attract more hummingbirds to your yard? Consider these 3 Native Plants

Start by planting their favorite foods! Oregon is home to multiple species of hummingbirds, the most common being the year-round favorite, Anna’s Hummingbirds, and the spring and summer migrant, Rufous Hummingbirds. And as a bonus, each of these species add beautiful and colorful flowers to your garden.

Red Flowering Currant: This early bloomer (March) provides important food for hummingbirds, often weeks before other native flowers start to bloom. They are a crowd favorite, with dozens of clusters of small pink flowers. (Pro tip: Go to search for them in native plant stores in March so you can choose your favorite color pink, as they can range from pale pink to deep magenta.) Once the flowers turn to berries, they become food for songbirds. They are a fairly easy plant to grow, doing well in full sun or part shade/part sun.

Western Columbine: Another showstopper, Western Columbine’s red and yellow flowers will add a wow factor to your yard and food for hummingbirds. They start to bloom in the Willamette Valley in April and can go into mid summer. Hummingbirds aren’t the only species that enjoy this plant. The seeds support songbirds, and the flowers are food for many other insect pollinators. This plant likes part sun/part shade.

Goldenrod: If red-flowering currant starts the season, goldenrod closes us out with blooms going from mid summer into September. These clusters of bright yellow flowers attract hummingbirds, butterflies, and bees. It’s fast growing, easy to grow, and adds a vibrant burst of yellow to your yard. This plant likes full sun to part shade.

By Ali Berman, Communications Director. For more information on local birds, visit birdallianceoregon.org .