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Nancy: When I do gardening projects, it often takes a couple of years. If you have zinnias in your garden, you could collect the dry seed heads...before the birds get to the seed and plant the seed the next year after frost. If you pull out the dry petal, the seed is on the end of the petal. Or you could buy seed next year. Some people buy plants, maybe hybrids, nicer, more compact. Hybrids may be sterile or produce something that does not look like the original. When you buy seed packs, there usually are not very many seed, but a couple of plants will produce a lot of seed and plants will bloom until frost. Maybe you could find zinnias as plants right now. It may take a number of years to attract hummingbirds that you will see. I would look up flowers and trees that attract hummingbirds. Maybe you could buy a butterfly bush now...I think garden stores have sales on plants right now. The people who work there might be able to give you some advice. If I see a garden with something I really like, I might ask if I could buy some seed from them. I have had red crocosmia that the hummingbirds like. I ordered one corm (a bulb) and it took many years to get a big clump. I have hollyhocks. I collect the seed pods that look like buttons and will strew the seeds. I have not seen any hummingbirds this year. Maybe I am not looking and I am not feeding them. There is some disease causing blindness in some birds. We are not supposed to feed them. When you feed birds, it takes a while to start seeing them. It is like maybe the next year their offspring come back. Then I notice them on other flowers. I don't know if hummingbirds need a hedge or a shrub for protection from larger predators. The weather is so weird, I don't know if hummingbirds have moved to a different location. A friend of mine lived next to a state forest and their large hummingbird feeder attracted maybe 30 birds at one time! If people are spraying pesticides and herbicides, you may not see birds. If you have more questions, let me know...
Thank you teri for all the information. We planted some "hot lips sage" which attracted them so we put up feeders. Only to have them not really stick around. We are hoping they will continue to come back but I was hoping for more. I think I will take your advice and purchase some other plants next spring. Our weather is so unpredictable right now. (53 no rain so far). Originally Posted by Teri000
Hello!Nancy: When I do gardening projects, it often takes a couple of years. If you have zinnias in your garden, you could collect the dry seed heads...before the birds get to the seed and plant the seed the next year after frost. If you pull out the dry petal, the seed is on the end of the petal. Or you could buy seed next year. Some people buy plants, maybe hybrids, nicer, more compact. Hybrids may be sterile or produce something that does not look like the original. When you buy seed packs, there usually are not very many seed, but a couple of plants will produce a lot of seed and plants will bloom until frost. Maybe you could find zinnias as plants right now. It may take a number of years to attract hummingbirds that you will see. I would look up flowers and trees that attract hummingbirds. Maybe you could buy a butterfly bush now...I think garden stores have sales on plants right now. The people who work there might be able to give you some advice. If I see a garden with something I really like, I might ask if I could buy some seed from them. I have had red crocosmia that the hummingbirds like. I ordered one corm (a bulb) and it took many years to get a big clump. I have hollyhocks. I collect the seed pods that look like buttons and will strew the seeds. I have not seen any hummingbirds this year. Maybe I am not looking and I am not feeding them. There is some disease causing blindness in some birds. We are not supposed to feed them. When you feed birds, it takes a while to start seeing them. It is like maybe the next year their offspring come back. Then I notice them on other flowers. I don't know if hummingbirds need a hedge or a shrub for protection from larger predators. The weather is so weird, I don't know if hummingbirds have moved to a different location. A friend of mine lived next to a state forest and their large hummingbird feeder attracted maybe 30 birds at one time! If people are spraying pesticides and herbicides, you may not see birds. If you have more questions, let me know...
. Poor guy.