By Ruth Lapp (Grandmother Birch Forest Garden Designs); copied here with permission.
From Panama to Canada, across the Gulf of Mexico…
Border-land transgressor, zip-line flyer, tenacious migrant, devout pilgrim – guided only by the sacred map of desire, imprinted on your heart since time began – you are Milita’w.
This land – your land – is a hummingbird garden. 
Male ruby-throated hummingbird. Sackville, NS. July 26, 2022. Photo by Steve Boutilier.
I have often wondered how hummingbirds managed to survive before the advent of hummingbird feeders. After all, hummingbirds are considered keystone species – meaning, they are literally vital to the structure and function of their home ecosystems.
Known only to the Americas, there are at least 366 species of hummingbirds; most live year round in Central and South America.
More and more, I want to welcome Milita’w – the Ruby Throated Hummingbird (Archilochus colubris) – our only indigenous species of hummingbird in the Maritimes, by planting more of the botanicals they love.
Like most pollinators, hummingbirds are drawn to a “suite of flower traits that have evolved in response to natural selection imposed by different pollen vectors“ – known as the pollination syndrome. Some well known flower traits include the colour red (although hummers will gladly sip nectar from other coloured flowers too), a deep tubular morphology, and a large nectar reward. Hummingbirds consume two to three times their body weight in nectar each day!
Along with imbibing floral nectar, Archilochus colubris also gobbles a lot of insects and small spiders, especially when they are feeding their young. Hummers also require a source of water (in which they won’t easily drown or be picked off as prey).
Below is a list of some Maritime native, and near-to-being native botanicals that ruby-throated hummers love.
- Blue flag iris — Iris versicolor
- Canada lily — Lilium canadense (this one is difficult to grow, but is endangered so if you can – grow it!!
- Common bearberry — Arctostaphylos uva-ursi
- Fireweed — Chamaenerion angustifolium
- Harebell — Campanula rotundifolia
- Red elderberry — Sambucus racemosa
- Spotted jewelweed — Impatiens capensis
- Cardinal flower – Lobelia cardinalis
- Wild bergamot – Monarda fistulosa
- Woodland columbine – Aquilegia spp
- American fly honeysuckle – Lonicera canadensis
- Common evening primrose – Oenothera biennis
- Tulip tree –Liriodendron tulipifera
Hummingbirds are considered, by people in the know, as messengers from the spirit world. And their message? Love, joy, healing, and renewal! And that dear reader is just about all that needs saying.
Resources
– https://wwf.ca/stories/how-to-attract-help-hummingbirds-native-plants/
– https://hummingbirdscanada.ca/provinces/maritimes/plants
– https://www.pollinator.org/pollinator.org/assets/generalFiles/Southwest.NS.Uplands.pdf