Red is not the only color to garner the attention of nectar-loving hummingbirds.
Blue flowers also draw hummingbirds.
Three blue-flowered plants which hummingbirds enjoy include two perennials and a shrub:
• blue columbine (Aquilegia caerulea),
• 'Blue Bird' rose-of-Sharon (Hibiscus syriacus 'Blue Bird'), and
• garden catmint (Nepetia x faassenii).
 Mason, Hillsborough County, south central New Hampshire |
New World native perennial Aquilegia caerulea is known commonly as blue columbine or Colorado blue columbine.
Adopted as the official state flower of Colorado on April 4, 1899, Aquilegia caerulea is native to the western United States:
Blue columbine accepts sites of full or partial sunniness.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture classifies blue columbine as hardy to:
Blue columbine attains a maximum height of 8 to 24 inches (20 - 60 centimeters) and a maximum spread of 8 to 16 inches (20 - 40 centimeters).
Floral coloration comprises pale blue, pink, white, and pale yellow. Oftentimes blue columbine evinces bi-coloration, with petals and sepals presenting different colors.
Aquilegia caerulea was honored with The Royal Horticultural Society's Award of Garden Merit in 1993.
 Wyoming |
Broad-tailed hummingbirds (Selasphorus platycercus) number among blue columbine's satisfied hummers.
As New World natives, Broad-tails have a large range which echoes, in its northern parameters, blue columbine's homelands in seven of the Mountain States: Arizona, Colorado, Idaho, Nevada, New Mexico, Utah, and Wyoming.
Broad-tails also occur natively in east central California, southeastern Oregon, and west central Texas.
The southern range extends through Mexico southward into Guatemala.
 Selasphorus platycercus map |
 'Blue Bird' ('Oiseau Bleu') |
Hibiscus syriacus is known commonly as blue hibiscus. In the United States, its popular common name is Rose of Sharon. In the United Kingdom, Hibiscus syriacus is known also as rose mallow, in recognition of its membership in the mallow family, Malvaceae.
An Old World native with homelands in eastern Asia, Hibiscus syriacus has been introduced outside its native range as an ornamental and as hedging.
As a deciduous shrub, Hibiscus syriacus enjoys full sun and frost hardiness. The U.S. Department of Agriculture classifies rose of Sharon as hardy for Zone 5 (-20° to -10° F.; -29° to -23° C.) through Zone 9 (20° to 30° F.; -7° to -1° C.).
Rose of Sharon's height maximizes at 8 to 20 feet (2.4 - 6 meters). The multi-stemmed, densely branched shrub spreads to a maximum of 6 to 10 feet (1.8 - 3 meters).
Ovate (Latin: ovum "egg") green leaves contrast with showy, 5-petaled flowers in a color spectrum from white to bluish lavender or reddish purple.
'Blue Bird' ('Oiseau Bleu'), a particularly striking cultivar, especially attracts hummingbirds by way ot its gentian blue flowers with lilac-purple centers.
In addition to bestowing its prestigious Award of Garden Merit upon Hibiscus syriacus 'Oiseau Bleu' (also known as H. syriacus 'Blue Bird') in 1993, the Royal Horticultural Society also has recognized nine other cultivars of Hibiscus syriacus:
.jpg "male blue-throated hummingbird") male blue-throated hummingbird |
Blue-throated hummingbirds (Lampornis clemenciae), also known as Blue-throated Mountaingem or Blue-throated Mountain-gem, are New World natives with homelands in Mexico's mountain woodlands.
Breeding populations are found in Mexico's northern states of Chihuahua, Coahuila, and Sonora. They also cross the border into:
 Lampornis clemenciae map |
 Nepeta faassenii 'Six Hills Giant' |
Nepeta x faassenii is known commonly as garden catmint or Faassen's catnip. A product of a Dutch nursery, J.H. Faassen-Hekkens Boomkwekerijen B.V., in Reuver, southeastern Netherlands, the vivacious perennial is a sterile hybrid of:
Nepeta x faassenii flourishes in full or partial sun. The U.S. Department of Agriculture classifies garden catmint as hardy for Zone 3 (-40° to -30° F.; -40° to -34° C.) through Zone 10 (30° to 40° F.; -1° to 4° C.).
The fragrant sprawler stretches to a maximum height of 24 inches (60 centimeters) and spreads to a width of 24 inches (60 centimeters).
Lance- to oval-shaped, toothed leaves provide a grey-green to silvery grey backdrop for floral spikes resplendent in lavender to purple-blue.
Cultivars 'Blue Wonder,' 'Select Blue,' and 'Six Hills Giant' bedazzle with their blue flowers.
In 2002, the Royal Horticultural Society honored Nepeta x faassenii, along with its parent, Nepeta racemosa, with its prestigious Award of Garden Merit.
 male Archilochus colubris in flight |
New World native Archilochus colubris is known commonly as ruby-throated hummingbird.
Ruby-throats are native to:
As snowbirds, ruby-throats favor southern Florida, southern Mexico, and all seven of Central America's countries: Belize, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, and western Panama.
 Archilochus colubris map |
 Buff-tailed bumblebee (Bombus terrestris) on a Nepeta × faassenii. |
Nature glories in blue, especially in the limitless bountifulness of seas and skies. Likewise, blue signifies bountiful nectar sources for hummingbirds.
Three plants -- two perennials and one shrub -- confirm for hummingbirds the trueness of blueness:
Hummingbird lovers appreciate these three floral beauties for their flexibility in site criteria. All three thrive not only in backyard allotments but also in container gardens. One of the many attractions of container gardening is immediacy, whereby pots may be located in advantageous proximity for hummer lovers.
Blue flowers usher in the win-win scenario of hummer lovers' enjoyment of hummingbird visitors' enjoyment of real nectar.
 blue columbine: colorful perennial |
My special thanks to talented artists and photographers/concerned organizations who make their fine images available on the internet.
 "It's like catnip for cats!" |
Dagnan, Don C. "Rose of Sharon Hibiscus syriacus L." Northeastern Area State and Private Forestry > Forest Health Protection - Invasive Plants > Weed of the Week. July 3, 2006. USDA Forest Service Northeastern Area State and Private Forestry. Web. www.na.fs.fed.us
Flora: A Gardener’s Encyclopedia. Volume I: A-K. Portland OR: Timber Press, 2003.
Flora: A Gardener’s Encyclopedia. Volume II: L-Z. Portland OR: Timber Press, 2004.
"Hibiscus syriacus 'Oiseau Bleu.' The Royal Horticultural Society > Plants. The Royal Horticultural Society. Web. rhs.org.uk
Kirkpatrick, J. "Regional Planting Guide to Attract Hummingbirds." Garden Artisans > Articles. GardenArtisans.com. Web. www.gardenartisans.us
McKinley, Michael. Ortho's All About Attracting Birds. Des Moines, IA: Meredith Books, 2001.
"Nepetia x faassenii Garden catmint." The Royal Horticultural Society > Plants. The Royal Horticultural Society. Web. rhs.org.uk
Newfield, Nancy L., and Barbara Nielsen. Hummingbird Gardens: Attracting Nature's Jewels to Your Backyard. New York: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1996.
Ortho's All About Attracting Hummingbirds and Butterflies. Des Moines, IA: Meredith Books, 2001.
Roth, Sally. Attracting Butterflies & Hummingbirds to Your Backyard. Rodale Organic Gardening Book. Emmaus PA: Rodale, 2001.
"Taxon: Aquilegia coerulea E. James." USDA, ARS, National Genetic Resources Program > Germplasm Resources Information Network - (GRIN) [Online Database]. United States Department of Agriculture Agricultural Research Service. Web. www.ars-grin.gov
 Arapaho Pass Trail, Boulder County, north central Colorado |
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Comments
katiem2, Thank you for liking my blue selection! One of my favorite gardens is the courtyard to the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston, particularly during their blue-themed months for spring and summer.
I love both blue and hummingbirds so this is a gold mine for me. thanks for the headsup on three blue flowers I will be planting this spring, very soon.
Mira, Yes, 'Oiseau Bleu' ('Blue Bird') is a cultivar of Hibiscus syriacus. Apparently the scientific name didn't save when I published this article. Thank you for your sharp eyes and relevant questions: I've re-inserted the details into the title of the capsule; hopefully they will save.
I hope that you are successful in locating blue columbine: it's a wonderful flower.
My wild columbines are blooming now. Their jeweled coloring of red and yellow is simply beautiful.
I came back to this article to look at the flowers. The blue columbine is wonderful. I will try to see if I can find it in flower shops but I doubt it. When you wrote "blue bird" by that image of hibiscus flowers, you meant to say the flower is also known as a "blue bird"??
Maritravel, Hummingbirds are such happy visitors to gardens that it's amazing that they aren't global. Although bees and butterflies are beautiful, the effect is not the same as hummingbirds with their fast hovering skills.
Providing gardens to attract these nectar-lovers is an important contribution to their continued success on this planet.
Just worked my way through your 'colours' articles and have learned a lot about their attractiveness to birdlife. Unfortunately, we don't have hummingbirds in the UK: my main task this summer has been to plant enough blue, mauve and purple plants to attract bees and butterflies, both of which we are losing at a dreadful rate due to pesticides and herbicides. Not many bees yet but I'm encouraged by the number of butterflies.
VioletteRose, Blue columbines are so photogenic, so it's lovely that you were able to take a photo of 2 blue columbines.
Yes, it is good that blue flowers can attract hummingbirds. Red flowers can be quite stunning, but they don't hold the monopoly on beauty, so it's nice to know that hummingbirds find satisfaction in colors other than red.
I love the blue columbine flowers, they are so lovely. I have seen them only one or two times, but I have got a nice photograph of two blue columbine flowers. I didn't know about the other two flowers, they all look beautiful. Good to know that these can attract the beautiful humming birds :)
Mira, The wind-sown plants, including trees, which have appeared as if by magic in my yard are beautiful gifts from nature, and I cherish that their windy journeys touched down in my yard.
Hummingbirds are such delights to watch.
Please let me know if Bucharest's Botanical Gardens include columbines or catmint. I hope that they are there, for they have such lovely flowers and draw in bees and butterflies as well as hummingbirds.
I am happy you got columbines in your yard! It must be amazing to discover new flowers in your yard :-). I hope you will soon get to see hummingbirds there as well.
In the meantime, I'll try to make it to the Botanical Gardens here in Bucharest and see if they have columbines or catmint :-)