Tag Archives: Plants for Hummingbirds

Oregon Native Plant: Ribes nevadense

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Plant Name:  Ribes nevadense
Common name:  Sierra Flowering Currant/Mountain Pink Currant
Plant Type:  Deciduous Multi-Stem Shrub
Plant Height: 3’ – 6’
Spread: 3’
Bloom Time: Late Spring
Flower Color: Soft Pink
Exposure: Sun to Light Shade
Soil Requirements: Tolerates variety of soil with good drainage.
Water Needs: Can tolerate moderate drought, but prefers consistent moisture.
Attributes:  Attracts Bees, Other Insects, Hummingbirds; Host for Butterflies & Moths; Fragrant Flowers.
Uses: Bee, Bird, and Butterfly Gardens; Native Gardens.
Note: The fruit is an edible bluish-black berry, somewhat waxy and studded with glandular hairs. Always get professional advice before consuming wild edibles; in the wild this berry can be confused with poisonous berries in the area. 

Native to:  California, Nevada, Oregon
Oregon Native:  YES
USDA Hardiness Zone:  5 – 8

 

Report by: Viki Ashford, AGC Member & Master Gardener

Photo from:https://www.sevenoaksnativenursery.com/

Horticulture Report: Agastache hyssop

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Plant Name:  Agastache hyssop ‘Black Adder’
(A cross between A. foeniculum & A. rugosum
Common name: Black Adder Giant Anise Hyssop
Plant Type: Herbaceous Perennial
Plant Height:  2’ – 3’
Spread:  1.5’ – 2’
Bloom Time: June – Frost
Flower Color:  Smokey Red Violet Flowers Emerge from Nearly Black Buds.
Exposure:  Full Sun to Part Shade
Soil Requirements: Well-Drained
Water Needs: Medium
Attributes: Tolerates Deer; Fragrant; Attracts Bees, Hummingbirds, & Butterflies.
Note:  Deadhead Spent Flowers to Promote Additional Bloom.  Leave Leaf & Flower Stems for Protection Over Winter.  Crown/Root Rot may occur in poor draining soils. 
Uses: Long-Blooming for Summer Border; Butterfly or Cottage Gardens; Good Cut Flower.
Native to:  North America
Oregon Native:  NO
USDA Hardiness Zone:  6 – 9

Submitted by: Viki Ashford

Fall Color: Pineapple Sage!

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Common Name: Pineapple Sage
Botanical Name: Salvia Elegans
Plant Type: Perennial (An annual in colder zones)
Height: 3- 4 ft
Width: 3-4 ft
Exposure: Full sun
Blooms: Scarlet-red exotic-looking tubular flowers
Bloom time: September to frost
Water Needs: Once establish needs only occasional watering
Attributes: Showy flowers, attracts hummingbirds. Culinary herb has a slight pineapple or citrus taste. Deer resistant! Easy Care, Waterwise plant
Uses: Culinary herb garden, Border gardens, Perennial gardens, Containers, Mass plantings, Poolside, Rock Gardens, Showy flowers.
USDA Hardiness Zones 8-10

Salvia

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Salvia guaranitica ‘Purpurea’

Common name: Anise-Scented Saliva

Family: Lamiaceae

USDA Zone : 7-10

Deep purple flowers nestled in a black calyx atop 3′ black stalks with lush green foliage.  Attracts bees and butterflies. Deer-proof plant. Showy Flowers.  Great for container growing.  Full sun to part shade. Medium moisture. Blooms mid-summer until frost. 

Submission and Photo by: Carlotta Lucas

Birds in the Garden

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The following is a summary of Wild Birds Unlimited owner, Laura Fleming’s, talk on “Birds in the Garden”

There are 4 key elements to attracting birds to your yard.

    1. Water   2. Shelter   3. Nesting Spaces   4. Food

      Photo from Wild Birds Unlimited – Nature shop

Water: it’s VERY crucial to birds, so providing a birdbath with fresh water, or a saucer of water on the ground is very beneficial in attracting birds to your yard.

Shelter & Nesting Spaces: Different types of birds need different types of habitat, so planting a variety of plans in your gardens encourages birds of all kinds to visit your garden. By planting a mixture of deciduous and conifer large trees, small trees and shrubs in your yard provides natural shelters and nest building areas. Birds are attracted to edges where they can escape, so a plant hedgerow and/or a variety of small & large shrubs & trees on the perimeter of your yard.

Read here: Plants for Birds

Food: Many kinds of flowers and grasses provide food and also nesting building materials.  Some natural food sources in your yard should be: Seed-producing flowers, berry-laden shrubs, a healthy insect population living in leaf litter and fruit trees.  Be a messy gardener; leave leaf litter and dead trees (snags) in your yard to enhance your bird habitat.  Supplement food sources with bird feeders. Different birds like different foods so supply a variety of foods in many feeders throughout your yard; hanging at a different heights.

* Read here: Seed Preference Guide

Submitted by: Carlotta Lucas

Seed Planting

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A nice gathering of garden club members met in N. Mountain Park’s greenhouse last Tuesday for a seed planting workshop. Their focus was planting containers of native wildflower seeds, so that by May 11th these wildflower pollinator plants would be ready to sell at the club’s annual plant sale.