Hummingbirds in your garden are a beautiful and fascinating part of a natural habitat. So how can you create a garden that will make those beautiful little creatures want to hang out and call it home?

The first step to creating a hummingbird garden is understanding what hummingbirds need in their habitat. They, like any other creature, need food, water, shelter and a place to rear their young.

Hummingbird Garden: Food

While it's common to see gardeners provide artificial hummingbird feeders filled with sugar water, by far the best choice in hummingbird food is natural nectar plants. Hummingbirds are attracted to color and nectar not fragrance - when it comes to flowers they feed on.

A good hummingbird garden will provide a combination of perennials, annuals, climbing vines, flowers that grow from bulbs, corms or tubers, and shrubs and trees. Personal choice and local availability will help with your choices and selections. Remember, that brightly-colored blooms (such as red and orange) will be more attractive to hummingbirds.

Good perennial choices would be: Bee Balm, Butterfly Weed, Cosmos, Fuchsia, Columbine, Hollyhock, Foxglove, Geranium, Coral Bells, Foxglove, Safe, Speedwell, Verbena, Cardinal Flower, Dahlia, Delphinium, Flame Acanthus, Lupine, Monkey Flower, Penstemon, Red Hot Poker, Scarlet Sage, and Jewel Weed.

Annual choices that are great for a hummingbird garden would be: Mountain Garland, Four O'Clocks, Impatiens, Nicotiana, Nasturtium, Petunia, Spider Flower and Zinnia.

For bulbs, corms and tubers, choose one or more of these: Tuberous Begonia, Iris, Canna, or Montbretia.

Climbing vines are also a good choice for interest and beauty as well as food for your visitors to your hummingbird garden. Great choices are: Bougainvillea and Mandevillea, Cardinal Climber, Cypress Vine, Honeysuckle, Trumpet Creeper.

Flowering trees and bushes also attract hummingbirds. Here are a few good choices: Azalea, Butterfly Bush, Lilac, Flowering Quince, Hibiscus, Mimosa.

Hummingbird Garden: Water

Provide water in your hummingbird garden both for drinking and bathing. This can be something as simple as a birdbath, a fountain or a mister. The sound of running water will help attract the hummingbirds to your garden.

Hummingbird Garden: Shelter and a Place to Rear Young

Be sure to set up both sunny and shady areas in your hummingbird garden. The shade will provide an area for the hummingbirds to rest and build nests.

Hummingbirds will use available materials

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