My hummers have fed at Silene regia, Liatris spicata, Agastache 'Blue Blazes', all pretty tall, but not 6 ft.

I have Agastache 'Honey Bee Blue' which is pretty short - 14-16"? But it is one of the Agastaches that are reliable here in New England z6 and it reseeds just right. I think 'Blue Blazes' might be hardy here, I'll look for that. It definitely has larger flowers than my HBB.

I love all the Agastaches, but, they die out on me either because of the hardiness or my clay soil. I bought one this spring and it's in a pot and the one hummingbird I saw did visit it. I'd really like to grow them as annuals, but I haven't been sowing seeds for awhile. Silene I am not familiar with, but I'll look for it. I should try the Liatris to go along with whatever I can find that's taller. I might want to do a Heliopsis even if it doesn't attract hummers and add others to go with it that do. Thanks.

Well it does not start at ground level in spring but Lonicera 'Dropmore Scarlet' has an extremely long bloom time. It would need support from an obelisk.

Crocosmia is not as tall but is hands down the favorite of hummers. I have 'Lucifer'.

Hi Peren.all :-) - those are two great ideas too. I added Major Wheeler to that bed on the outside edge with a tomato cage for now, because it's a small little plant. It only has 2 stems that are about 12" tall. It seems to take forever to put on size. I had it in the wrong place and moved it last year. It's growing better, but still slow. So how does that Lonicera compare to Dropmore Scarlet? Is it fragrant by any chance?

So the Crocosmia is the hummingbird magnet? Ok, that is one I haven't tried yet.

'Lucifer' because it's red and they love that right? And it must be hardy here if you can grow it. Okay, it's been on my list but, I don't have a bed that fits reds and oranges well, and that's why it always falls off the bottom of my list. I am trying to do an orange purple bed but the only place I have for it is 5hrs of sun only. Crocosmia comes in a yellow, right, but does that color still attract the hummers?

What do you think of talller plants - regardless of hummer attraction? Heliopsis and Helianthus both start out low and burst into big, tall sizes in one season, right? I think I have room for one of those. You grow those, right? Is there a variety you could recommend? Thank you!

I have had heliopsis for years and have never seen a hummingbird near it. It is heliopsis summer sun i think.

I know you asked for perennials, but Tithonia checks all your boxes otherwise, and they're easy to start from seed. Depending on weather conditions in late spring/early summer, it can be a little slow to start blooming, but they're blooming machines from then on until a hard frost and I frequently see hummingbirds visiting mine.

Barheadlass - Love your screen name. [g]

Yes, I thought the Heliopsis was not a hummer magnet, I guess I just like them and was thinking of adding that to the area where I want to attract hummers too. Can you tell me what your experience has been with 'Summer Sun'? Do you enjoy growing it every year and does it attract other pollinators or birds?

Sah...I forgot about Tithonia. I remember buying seed a couple of times and not starting the seed. I'll have to give that one a try again. Normally I only have an area available for that size plant that is in part sun, but this time I'm going to have a spot in full sun. Thanks.

You might want to look at a Culver's root cultivar called 'Fascination'. It's a perennial and a cultivar of a native plant. I have one of these growing toward the back of a flower bed. Even though it's getting quite a bit of shade, it's blooming quite well and about 5 ft tall. It has only been there a couple of years, so it may get bigger and better as time goes on.

A week or two back, I was very surprised to see a hummingbird on it and she was so interested in those flowers that she didn't even notice me about 4 feet away! The color is hard to describe, but it's a light blueish violet sort of color that goes with everything.

Hi pm! I have never grown Major Wheeler so I can't compare the two. DS is not fragrant but a great plant. I imagine your MW should stop pouting after being moved and put on growth next year.

I did read that yellow Crocosmia will also attract hummers but can't verify that.

I agree with barrheadlass that Heliopsis (I have Summer Sun as well) does not attract hummers only bees and bee flies. The Eastern Tiger Swallowtails have been visiting them though.

I and the bees adore Helianthus Lemon Queen but not the hummers. It is still a great plant to grow.

Back later, need to get my grandson.

The ruby throated hummingbirds in my yard enjoy the Liatris ’Floristan White’. The American goldfinch really enjoy the late season seeds.

Cardinal flowers are popular too.

Nancy, I love Culver’s Root and I used to have some and have no idea what happened to it. I just bought 3 plants labeled as Culver’s Root at a local plant sale and they just started flowering and I think they are something else. Not culver’s root. I will look for that ‘Fascination’ Definitely going to get this one. Surprised they would interest a hummer though. 5ft tall is pretty good!!

Peren.all - MW is not fragrant either. I have a couple of new honeysuckle that are supposed to be fragrant but they are young and haven’t bloomed yet, so I don’t know. I got MW just for the hummers. Crocosmia is going on my list.

Heliopsis ‘Summer Sun’ or Helianthus ‘Lemon Queen’ which plant do you enjoy the most? Is the easiest to care for, longest blooming, stands up to rain? Do you have to stake it?

I think I tried one of these once and they were covered with aphids. Which to a degree is fine, they feed the lady bugs, but I think there were other reasons I didn’t keep it. It was awhile ago.

Design fan, Liatris grows in a white, how nice. And I love goldfinches. Any problem with rabbits eating the plants?

Here, Heliopsis gets ugly, red aphids. Helianthus is pretty trouble free.

The reason everybody knows and recommends Lucifer crocosmia is that it has a well deserved reputation as being the hardiest crocosmia.

@prairiemoon2 z6b MA I have had rabbits and deer munch on Liatris occasionally (ususually just the flower buds for the deer), but it's not necessarily the first thing they go for, and I've let mine re-seed to the point now where I have far more Liatris than any mammals would ever be interested in!

I think the bigger issue is that Liatris corms are well known to be "candy" for voles in winter, and I know a lot of gardeners with major vole issues who essentially treat Liatris like annuals. Voles are thankfully not a big issue in my garden!

MadGallica - Thank you, I remember those red aphids, so I must have had the Heliopsis in the past. So maybe I’ll try the Helianthus!

Okay, well, yes, hardiness is important. Maybe I’ll figure out a way to fit the red Lucifer into the garden. I’d love it with violets and purples, just not pinks and yellows.

Sah - That’s just what I needed to know about these plants and the critters. We’re having a terrible time with rabbits and I have had some voles in the winter but not for a few years. Using them like annuals…interesting, wouldn’t have thought of that. Thanks!

So far no rabbit damage on my white liatris!

Hummers love bee balm. Jacob Klein Monarda is a tall one they like a lot!

Another one of Jeana. O and it's also a butterfly magnet

Thank you Design Fan!

MLynnm - Photos! Great! That Major Wheeler really fills in your fence. Next to that pink shrub at the end, it looks like an orange red, is that right? How much sun does it get there?

Phlox? No, I can’t keep phlox at all. Just like you had a hummer on it while it was still in the pot, I had a rabbit come up on my front steps and eat the phlox to the ground while it was in the pot. My neighbor said she walked out her back door recently and had 8 rabbits at once in her yard. We are overrun with them. They seem to love phlox. Nice photo of the monarch! Jeana is supposed to be less prone to mildew too.

But, I plan on having some large pots. I did that this year for coneflower which I can’t keep either because of the rabbits. Maybe I’ll put some Jeana and coneflowers in a big pot next season. Or a couple of pots.

Sandyslopes - I have Raspberry Wine Bee Balm, but I’ve heard that Jacob Klein is another good variety that is also not prone to mildew. Oddly, I was noticing this year that I’ve had no mildew on anything. And we’ve had rain and humidity too.

I would say more of a coral color. As far as the growth, I cut that whole thing back so that it is flush with the fence in the fall. Pretty much a handful of stems about 4 ft tall. And during the summer I am always cutting some off otherwise it would cascade to the ground. Mrs Cuba has them growing up and over a arbor., huge. Mine get sun most of the day from about 9 am. Only issue is with honeysuckle aphids. They will destroy the buds if you allow it. Almost all mine where ruined early spring but I sprayed once with soap at night when pollinators aren't active and they quickly started getting buds again and now are blooming. Hummers love it. They also get little berries on it the birds eat.

Pruning isn't needed if u have the space.

Thanks MLynn - What zone are you in? I'm surprised you prune it back in the Fall. Do you mean after it's gone dormant?

Many are too short for your needs such as Russian sage (now Salvia yangii), Lobelia siphilitica, Aquilegia. Cardinal flower under the right conditions can get over 5 ft. but is the wrong colour for this bed.

I am growing a perennial Digitalis 'Arctic Fox Rose' normally about 3' but withe the crazy hot weather it is about 5 ft. this year.

Vernonia crinita 'Mammuth' is about 8' and is just showing buds now. Great plant that attracts hummers but mostly every butterfly you have in your area. Purple blooms and great foliage. This one is a winner in my book.

I do not grow it but apparently Silphium perfoliatum is a good one but can be considered too coarse and or weedy for some.

My first thought is cardinal flower, but it really doesn't do much until later in the summer, maybe August or so, and isn't all that tall.

I don't really ever see the hummers on any of my perennials other than the cardinal flower, and I've some got some good tall ones. They used to enjoy "Jacob Cline" monarda, but that plant petered out on me years ago. I see them on the annuals -- salvias and zinnias, in particular. I've seen them on the butterfly bushes, too.

Thank you Peren.all - Cardinal Flower needs shade or part shade? I've tried that a couple of times and my property is just too dry. It just won't establish for me. I have a lot of Aquilegia, or I did. I never saw a hummer near it. And I have a good stand of Penstemon that I put in because they are supposed to like it but nothing. I wonder about timing, because it seems early in the season I never see them. And Digitalis would also be in bloom early in the season. Last year I had a big stand of those and never saw a hummingbird near them. Pretty sure I had a Lobelia siphilitica at one point, I wonder what happened to that? [g] Blue tall flowers, right?

I did see a hummingbird last week, briefly and then today, it's so hot today and I was watering early this morning under my front Maple I have a bed of vinca. Suddenly I saw a hummer patroling the bed. I don't know what it was looking for, there is nothing in bloom in the bed. Then I realized I had the Mist setting on the hose and I didn't know if it was the water. I felt bad because I just don't have hardly anything for it. One Agastache plant and less than a dozen Monarda. I haven't seen them at any of the Lilies and the 'Berry Awesome' Hibiscus is in bloom right now. I hope I can do better next year.

Poor hummingbirds in this heat with such little bodies, I don't know how they can stand it. And we have a water ban or I would have put the sprinklers on for the birds. I've seen misting stations in some online gardens but I can't see how you can leave that going for them all the time.

PorkChop - I might try some more Salvias, I think if I fill in with the Helianthus 'Summer Sun'? that would take care of the height I need and I can fill in around it wtih plants that aren't as tall. I also bought another Butterfly Bush, so that is another something for them. Thanks!

Since you are going with a salvia, consider ’Wendy’s Wish’. It is a hummingbird magnet. Grows to 3-4’ in the ground but it’s a tender perennial hardy to zone 9. In zone 7a, I have had it overwinter in milder years.

Design Fan, That is so pretty! I love that shade of rosy red. How do you overwinter it?

Two that hummers and I love are Foxgloves and Delphinium.

prairiemoon2 - when I grew Wendy’s Wish in the ground, it overwintered for a couple years as it had some large green giant arborvitae and shrubs around it that gave it winter protection along with a good layer of mulch in the fall. Eventually a cold winter did kill it. I have grown it in pots too treating it as an annual (it stays smaller at ~2 ft).

Joe Pye might work.

@prairiemoon2 z6b MA My father was born in Barrhead, Scotland.

This has been a very interesting thread. My monarda is covered with mildew…so annoying. I have never seen aphids on my heliopsis. My yard is overrun with rabbits, something is tunneling all over my yard, and we do not have a watering ban for thebfirst time in years. I grew crocosmia from corms this year.

Oh yes -- monarda is a mildew magnet, no doubt about that. I now have quite a bit of M. fistulosa (wild bergamot). I grew transplants from seed and planted out in the pasture-turned-meadow. I can't see the mildew way back there from the house but am able to enjoy the flowers, and the pollinators make good use of it. IDK if the hummers visit that, though -- it's lavender which I don't think is a preferred color of theirs.

ETA: I should try to find seed of "Jacob Cline" for the pasture -- that I would definitely be able to see from the house, it is one heck of a flamin' red color.

Also, try "Scarlet Flame" zinnia. Very easy to grow from seed. Here's mine. They are more vibrant IRL, it's hard to capture the color in the mid-day sun. They're about 3-foot tall; they just look short in this pic because they're sandwiched between a Zebra grass clump and a Helianthus, which are both over 5' tall.

Just saw a hummer really working over my flowers on anise hyssop (4ft) and my sea holly (3ft).

tj

Porkchop - I have that wild bergamot too that is the light lavender and that is in my back, where I haven’t been spending a lot of time, so I can’t tell if the hummers are using it or not. Thanks for the photo of the Helianthus. That’s a plant I’m considering adding. Hummers use Zinnia?

Tsugajunkie - Anise Hyssop is an Agastache, right? I have Agastache Honey Bee Blue - but it’s a smaller plant then what comes up when I google Anise Hyssop. Mine isn't even 3ft tall. I found these two photos….

Anise Hyssop

Agastache Honey Bee Blue

prairiemoon2 z6b MA- I'm in zone 7b. I started pruning it back to try to get rid of the honeysuckle apids and the eggs that can overwinter in the branches. It didn't do much good but I still do it because it gets so big.

@prairiemoon2 z6b MA might you consider a self seeding biennial? Ipomopsis rubra is a wonderful, one not often seen plant which is a hummingbird magnet. It might not be as tall as you want but I have a few that are 4 feet high.

Here are some pics from this month:

PM

But wont most perennials just flower 5- 6 weeks and if you remove the ones that dont meet height requirements, what are you left with?

you could have a succession of 5 foot pollinators.

Go to McCues and buy red annual salvia snd red)orange cuphea and youll get hummers with a lot less head- scratching.

Plant a big pot or two of cuphea and red salvia and save yourself a lot of head scratching

M LynnM - Wishing you a visit from the lady bugs. :-)

Rouge - Is that you? Nice to see you :-) You’ve been missed. Sure, a biennial is nice too. I haven’t heard of Ipomopsis before and it doesn’t look familiar either. Of course, they love red. Thank you for the photos too.

Marie - As I said in the beginning, it’s a section of my full sun bed and it’s between Little Lime Hydrangeas and there are plenty of other plants in the bed to keep the bloom going through the fall. But I will be putting together pots as well, and I’ve had Cuphea before and really that has attracted hummers better than any other plant for me so far. I was planning to add those too. I just want to change my bed with some different perennials than I have right now.

@prairiemoon2 z6b MA (thanks),

I'd send you some seeds for Ipomopsis rubra this Fall but it is a bit problematic sending such plant material across international borders. (And even if they those seeds did germinate for you for 2026, it would be another year for flowers).

(As I recall @Jay 6a Chicago knows lots about IR)

Marie, i have two huge pots of cuphea and never have seen a humminbird there! I have it every year and as far as I can tell, it has never attracted humminbirds.

Hey @Barrheadlass, I am sure those cuphea hybrids do attract hummers it just that myself, like you, also hasn't experienced it much. This is the my first year in three to not plant one. I will stick to salvias to lure them in.

"Hummers use Zinnia?"

Occasionally, but they do prefer the salvias. The swallowtails sure do like the zinnia, though.

yesterday a hummer spent a lot of time at the 7 foot tall JPW.

Bareheadlass,no I am not sure.if i can find the source of my recollection Ill certainly share it.

Rouge!!!! You're back!!! We've missed you!!