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Almost every time I have spent just a few minutes in my yard this summer, I saw a hummingbird hard at work. Everyone loves hummingbirds — those delicate, almost ethereal birds that seem almost magical as they hover from flower to flower or float near a hummingbird feeder. Every time I see one I stop in my tracks and am transfixed by every graceful movement of these little birds. Not everyone has the time or inclination to put up and maintain hummingbird feeders and I am in this group. If you grow a variety of plants that attract hummingbirds, you can have hummingbirds visiting your yard all season long without the trouble of boiling sugar and water and refilling feeders every couple of days.

Here is a list of plants that will attract hummingbirds with little effort on your part, other than planting and watering. Many of them have tubular flowers and a red color, but not all. So plant some of these this fall or next spring and enjoy the diminutive visitors to your own garden.

In this list I also have included Latin names of some of the plants to avoid confusion with common names.

Annuals

• Four-o'-clocks

• Touch-me-not

• Nicotiana ("Only the Lonely" is my favorite)

• Nasturtium

• Petunia (I grew the mini pink ones and hummingbirds loved them.)

• Cleome

• Zinnia

• Scarlet runner bean

• "Painted Lady" — Runner bean with coral and pink flowers — this plant had a hummer near it almost every time I looked at it while it was blooming

• Snapdragon

• Annual salvia ("Black and Blue" is my favorite.)

• Cuphea (cigar plant)

• Lantana

• Cardinal climber — ipomea quamoclit

• Verbena bonariensis

Perennials

• Trumpet vine — campsis radicans. This is a very vigorous grower and needs very strong support.

• Coral bells — heuchera — especially the red, flowered ones.

• Honeysuckle — lonicera sempervirens "magnifica"

• Bee balm — monarda

• Butterfly weed — Asclepias

• Columbine (especially red, flowered)

• Any Veronicas

• Lobelia cardinalis

• Red hot poker — kniphofia

• Salvia officinalis (the herb)

• Any salvias

• Hollyhocks

• Penstemons

• Anise hyssop — agastache

• Crocosmia

• Foxgloves

Some shrubs that really attract hummers are Butterfly Bush (buddleia), Rose of Sharon and Weigela. The Mimosa tree, also known as the Silk Tree, also attracts the tiny beings to sip from its unusual flowers. This tree bears silky pink powder puff-looking flowers in summer.

Ildiko Sherman is a local gardener and columnist. Contact her with gardening questions at Ildiko5@earthlink.net or write c/o The Journal, 52 S. Broad St., Middletown, OH 45044.

Have a question? Get gardening help, on Ildiko Sherman's gardening blog, "How does your garden grow?" Find it on www.journal-news.com.