A Rockin’ year with hummingbirds and butterflies

As I write this, I am on day 211 of hummingbirds feeding at The Garden Guy’s house.

I don’t use feeders, just plants. The year started off fast and blooming, and then, temperatures plummeted. Things quickly rebounded, and my first Ruby-throated hummingbirds showed up April 3.

They began days of feeding on Superbells calibrachoas and Perfecto Mundo Orange azaleas verbenas and petunias. The freeze slowed down the Rockin’ salvia bloom, but by mid-May, the birds were being seen on Rockin’ Blue Suede Shoes, Rockin’ Deep Purple and Rockin’ Fuchsia salvias.

I am in my fourth growing year with these salvias. They all quickly topped four feet, so this year, I took more liberty at pruning back to keep them in an allotted space. I use almost all of them behind other bloomers like lantanas, gomphrena and even behind containers on a rock wall. While they are certainly beautiful, they aren’t the showiest plants in the garden by virtue of their spiky texture. From a habitat perspective, however, they rank among the most important plants anyone can plant in the garden. Since May 18, it has been bees, butterflies and hummingbirds aplenty.

Looking back at the 2022 growing year, there were a lot of memorable moments with all Rockin’ salvias. Rockin’ Deep Purple was the first to bloom and bring in the May hummingbirds. This year, the Eastern Tiger Swallowtails were around in large numbers; they too wanted salvia nectar. A large yellow and black tiger-striped butterfly feeding on Rockin Blue Suede Shoes salvia is an unbeatable complementary color scheme.

In a way, this was the Year of the Rockin’ Fuchsia salvia. This is where I captured many of my best photographs. Without thinking, I planted Queen Tut papyrus — where it became a most photogenic partner with the salvia, who knew? The arrival of the hummingbirds, acrobatically maneuvering to get nectar, created a ‘Holy Wow’ moment for anyone looking through a telephoto lens.

Most of the Rockin’ salvias varieties look to be Salvia guaranitica hydrids with larger tubular flowers. The Rockin’ Playin’ the Blues salvia, is different. It is a Salvia longispicata and S. farinacea cross with smaller flowers. This salvia, which won the Dallas Arboretum Best Pollinator Friendly Perennial, is always unbeatable. Personally, I noticed it seemed to be a favorite of the little guys, like the Gray hairstreak and the colorful Red-banded hairstreak.

While The Garden Guy is still counting hummingbirds, I hope you will make plans to put all the Rockin’ salvias in your garden next year. I can tell you the pollinators, including your regional hummingbirds, will be glad you did.

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