3 Plants to Attract Sunbirds

Attracting a sunbird to your garden can stir up a lot of excitement. Who can resist watching that small, agile little bird, with its magnificent colouring and unique call. The question is, how do we attract them to our gardens? To start off with, sunbirds love the nectar of plants. People try making all sorts of nectar cocktails in an attempt to attract sunbirds, most of which are very difficult for sunbirds to digest. We are very much for nectar feeders, however, we believe in the correct nectar mixture. We wrote a blog post “6 Nectar Feeding Questions and Answers” that’s worth a read if you are thinking about using a nectar feeder.

What’s next? INDIGENOUS GARDENS! Guys, if you are wondering why your rose garden isn’t bringing in a family of sunbirds, it’s because they need to feed on the right plants. There are over 20 different sunbird species found in South Africa, so I believe it’s very possible to attract sunbirds to your yard

Below I’ve discussed my three favourite sunbird- attracting plants:

Red-hot pokers – Sunbirds love the red-hot poker’s brightly coloured flowers, which look great in the garden too. They flower for a long time and most species are evergreen, occurring naturally throughout South Africa. Red-hot pokers are generally pretty hardy plants that produce copious amounts of tasty nectar for sunbirds to feed on.

Aloes - Common aloes can grow almost anywhere in South Africa. They are low maintenance, once established, and are well-adapted to the often arid conditions found in their natural environment. Sunbirds’ beaks are made to drink the nectar out of the aloes’ tubular flowers, which are filled with nectar. The aloe’s nectar is a welcome source of food during winter.

Wild dagga - Wild dagga is a robust shrub and is widespread throughout South Africa. It is fast growing, which is great if you want to bring those sunbirds in quickly. Wild Dagga is also an evergreen plant with flowers of a tubular shape, perfect for the sunbirds curved beak.

There are my top 3 sunbird plants; I find them beautiful, hardy and low maintenance. There are of course many more indigenous nectar plants out there for you to choose from.

Please, leave a comment below, and tell us about your favourite sunbird-friendly plants.