How to Grow Hummingbird Flower Plants

About Growing Hummingbird Plants in Your Home Flower Garden

Gardeners just love to grow attractive Hummingbird flowers. This ornamental is a magnet for both hummingbirds and honeybees with its bright, tubular blooms. And, it is so easy to grow. Some gardeners say the best way to grow them, is to ignore them! Growing perennial hummingbird plants in a flowerpot on your patio or deck is very rewarding You can watch the Hummingbirds hovering just a few feet away as you watch them from a lounge chair.

Native to Uruguay in South America where it gets its name, the Hummingbird plant is bushy, growing about 2 feet tall and three feet wide. It is a perennial plant, that is grown as an annual in cooler regions of the country. It has velvety, grayish-green, leaves. The plant produces masses of tubular, bright red, or orange blooms from late spring up to the first killing frost.

Try growing the Hummingbird Plant in containers, baskets, beds, and borders.

Hummingbird Plants are deer resistant.

Other Names: Uruguayan Firecracker Plant, Firecracker Flower

Perennial, Dicliptera suberecta

Perennial Hummingbird Plant Propagation

The plants are propagated by the division of the root ball of established plants.

How to Grow Hummingbird Flowers

Growing Hummingbird plants is easy to grow. The plants grow best in full sun. They are heat, humidity, and drought tolerant.

Grow the plants in average to below-average soils. They do not require fertilizers. But, a dose of general-purpose fertilizer twice a year helps to maximize plant growth.

The plants do well in dry to slightly dry soils. We recommend you water them only during periods of drought. Avoid wet soil for any length of time, as the roots can rot in soggy soil.

Apply a thick layer of mulch around plants, to keep weeds down.

Plants will go dormant for the winter. At the end of the season, cut plants to the ground.

Ideal Soil pH: 6.0 – 8.0.

Also, see:

Plant Problems – Identify the causes and find the cures.

Insects and Plant Disease

Hummingbird plants are seldom bothered by insects and plant disease. If insect or disease problems occur, treat early with organic or chemical insect repellents and fungicide.

The roots rot in soggy soils.