Wish to make hummingbirds see red? Plant a firebush in your garden. Likewise called scarlet bush, it is not only among the easiest of plants to grow, but it also remains in flower throughout the growing season with clusters of tubular red buds and flowers. Since the Southern growing season overlaps the spring and fall migration times of the ruby-throated hummingbird, and red is by far their preferred color, these blossoms will summon them to your garden.
What To Know About Firebush
Firebush (Hamelia patens) can be discovered at a lot of nurseries and garden centers throughout the South, partly due to the fact that it’s so well adapted to our growing conditions. Firebush makes a fantastic, fast-flowering annual shrub for borders or containers in the Middle and Upper South. It can even be used as an evergreen perennial shrub for hedges in the Tropical South, where it will reach up to 12 feet high.
Why It’s So Easy To Care For
Put mulch over the roots in the fall– firebush freezes down but usually comes back rapidly in the Lower and Coastal South. Lightly shear the plant a couple of times during the growing season to promote the heaviest blooming.
It Attracts More Than Hummingbirds
In addition to attracting hummingbirds, vibrant, long-blooming firebush functions as both larval food and nectar plant for butterflies. And other birds will relish its fruit. But it’s those zooming crowds of hummers, especially throughout fall migration when firebush has actually reached its full potential of size and bloom, that make this plant so popular.