Watching a hummingbird zip through your garden never seems to get old. Even better is when they stick around long enough to raise tiny hummingbird babies nearby. If you’re hoping to welcome more hummingbird families to your yard this season, the flowers you plant can make a huge difference.

While one bloom color consistently catches their attention first (no surprise here: It’s red), ornithologists say hummingbirds aren’t choosing flowers based on color alone. We asked hummingbird experts what shades attract them most, which flower traits matter just as much, and a few easy ways to keep these magical little birds coming back.

The Color Hummingbirds Love the Most

If there’s one color most types of hummingbirds love, it’s red—and many of us know this already based on the hundreds of bright red hummingbird feeders on the market. 

“North America is home to several hummingbird species. The Ruby-throated hummingbird is the most common in the East, while Anna’s, Black-chinned, Rufous, Costa’s, and several others live in the West,” says Donald Price, ornithologist and professor of life sciences at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. “These hummingbirds tend to prefer red flowers; they learn that red tubular flowers often contain nectar.” According to Price, the color is what helps hummingbirds find a plant; a good nectar supply brings them back season after season. Think of red as the invitation and nectar as the reason they keep showing up.

Apparently, there’s a clear evolutionary reason red and reddish-toned blooms work so well: Many hummingbird-pollinated flowers use those colors like a built-in signal. “Hummingbirds have evolved a strong preference for longer-wavelength colors (i.e., toward the red end of the spectrum),” says Robert S. Mulvihill, lead ornithologist at National Aviary. “Depending on the setting, e.g., sun or shade and dense foliage or not, flowers that have evolved to be principally pollinated by hummingbirds flag them down with flowers or flower parts having those colors.” 

But red doesn’t attract all pollinators equally. In fact, different pollinators are drawn to different visual cues. “Insect pollinators are more sensitive to the shorter wavelength colors green, blue, and violet,” Mulvihill explains. “White flowers, which mix all the wavelengths together, often have even shorter wavelength ultraviolet ‘targets’ or ‘landing’ spots visible only to insect pollinators like bees and butterflies.” Regardless, pollinators will often attempt to feed on whatever flowers are available when their usual food sources are limited.

Secondary Colors

You don’t need a garden full of red flowers only to get a hummingbird’s attention. “They also visit orange, pink, purple, yellow, blue, and white flowers,” Price says. But those colors usually work best when the flower still offers the right shape and a reliable nectar reward.

That flexibility with color—and even shape to a certain extent—matters because hummingbirds are not exactly leisurely eaters. “Although they have their favorites, hummingbirds will opportunistically probe a wide variety of flowers having different structures and different colors than the typical hummingbird-adapted flower species,” says Mulvihill. A nectar-rich flower can still earn a visit even if it isn’t red, tubular, or textbook-perfect.

With such high metabolisms, hummingbirds need to eat often and are able to get creative. Mulvihill points out that they’ll even visit the “rat-a-tat-tat” rows of sap wells drilled by woodpeckers called yellow-bellied sapsuckers. In early spring, when few red flowers are blooming, they sip the sap and pick off the tiny insects it attracts.

Other Flower Characteristics That Attract Hummingbirds

The TL;DR, according to Price: “Hummingbirds prefer flowers that have a tubular or trumpet shape, produce plenty of nectar, grow in easy-to-spot clusters, and bloom during spring and fall migration.” Here are some more specifics about the type of plants that hummingbirds love most. 

High-Volume Nectar

According to Mulvihill, most plants that are pollinated by hummingbirds have at least some bright red flower parts. But what matters most is the quality and quantity of the nectar. “Hummingbirds are driven primarily by sugar type, sugar concentration, and nectar flow rate (i.e., how quickly is the nectar refreshed after it has been consumed by the hummingbird),” says Mulvihill.  “All hummingbird-pollinated plants provide concentrated, high-volume nectar that is rich in sucrose (hummingbirds’ favorite sugar!). Some ideal plants to try include trumpet vine, coral honeysuckle, and penstemon.

Corolla Tubes

Corolla tubes are the long, narrow parts of a flower that hold the nectar. That shape is especially useful for hummingbirds because they can hover in place and reach inside with their long bills and tongues. “Elongated corolla tubes render nectar only, or primarily, to hummingbirds,” says Mulvihill.  “Most of the truly hummingbird-adapted flowers lack any sort of physical landing pad, making them accessible only to long-tongued pollinators capable of hovering.” One of the most common examples is the cardinal flower, which has long red tubular blooms.

Fun fact: “One group of day-flying moths that can feed while hovering is aptly named the hummingbird moths!” Mulvihill shares. “In addition, some insects and a few birds have learned how to ‘rob’ flower nectar by chewing or piercing a hole at the base of a flower’s long corolla tube.” But for the most part, this flower shape helps reserve the nectar for hummingbirds that are best equipped to reach it.

Taller Stems

Height can make a flower easier to access, especially for a bird that needs room to hover while it feeds. “Hummingbirds like flowers borne on taller stems that raise them above any surrounding obstacles to the hummingbird’s hovering flight,” says Mulvihill. “Consequently, many hummingbird-adapted flowers produce their blooms in a tall spike or spray that offers hummingbirds flowers at different stages of bloom and nectar production.” Some taller, hummingbird-friendly examples include bee balm and salvia.

Tips to Attract More Hummingbirds to Your Garden

Wherever you live, the best way to attract hummingbirds is to provide flowers, clean feeders, water, and safe places to rest. Use these expert tips to turn your outdoor space into a hummingbird sanctuary. 

Plant in Season-Specific Bunches

A single red flower may catch a hummingbird’s eye, but a larger patch is easier for them to spot—and it’s more enticing! “You should plant several of the same flower together and choose a mix that blooms from spring through fall. Native plants are usually best,” says Price. “Good options include cardinal flower and bee balm in the East; penstemons, salvias, and red-flowering currant in the West; and chuparosa, desert willow, and ocotillo in the Southwest.”

The goal is to make your yard reliable, not just colorful, so hummingbirds can find nectar there throughout the season. Don’t worry if the design isn’t perfectly planned out; ultimately, all you need is some color. “Convert a patch of your existing lawn into a beautiful garden patch of mixed tall red, orange, and yellow tubular flowers,” says Mulvihill.

Avoid Pesticides

Of course, the obvious advice is to hang a bright red feeder with fresh nectar, but hummingbirds need more than sugar water. Nectar gives hummingbirds quick energy, but insects provide the protein they need to survive and raise young. “They consume a lot of insect protein by adeptly snatching small insects out of the air, plucking them from spider webs, and gleaning them from the surfaces of leaves and tree bark,” says Mulvihill. So, let those insects be. 

“Avoid spraying pesticides in and around your house as hummingbirds need tiny insects, especially when feeding their young,” says Price. “You should also keep cats indoors and make large windows visible with exterior markers so the birds don’t fly into your windows.”

Provide Fresh Water and Shade

Hummingbirds also need safe places to drink, cool off, perch, and nest. “Hummingbirds prefer to nest near water, and they usually build their nests on the thinner (1 to 2 inches in diameter), down-sloping branches of trees, especially if they are overhanging a stream or path,” says Mulvihill. “You can attract hummingbirds with a regular source of fresh, shallow, flowing water, or a water mister, and by providing plenty of small trees and shrubs for hummingbirds to perch and shelter in between feeding bouts.” If you’re really lucky, Mulvihill says hummingbirds may even choose to nest on your property. That’s the dream, right?