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For the past few years, I’ve been obsessed with the hummingbirds that stop by my house. They are such wonderful visitors, and I have set it as a goal to create a hummingbird paradise this growing season.
Thanks to Espoma Organic for partnering on todays video!
In this video, you’ll see how I choose the flowers and plants that can further support the local ecosystem, as well as feed the hummingbirds and other pollinators who visit my balcony. I also share tips on planting in small spaces. Let’s go!
//Creative Commons Attribution Licence video (Reuse allowed)
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0:00
Welcome to my chaotic hummingbird garden makeover plant friends
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Growing joy. Hello, plant friends. My name's Maria. I'm here to help you care for plants successfully and grow joy in your life by doing so
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And we're going to be growing a lot of joy on this video because it's comical
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The minute I started filming, my neighbor started mowing his lawn. So I am so sorry if we're going to have some mowing audio interference
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Also, there seems to be some bees that we have set who are going to love the pollinator plants that we're about to plant
0:35
So this might just be a little chaotic. And you know the term gardener's chaos
0:40
It's like it's the opposite of the calm before the storm. It's the storm
0:45
And then I guess we wait for the calm after. That's what I feel right now. But believe me, plant friends, I have a vision
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And my vision is to set all of the hummingbirds in my area up for success by creating a patio container garden filled
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with plants that attract hummingbirds because if you follow me on social media, you know that I am
1:04
obsessed with my hummingbirds. I live for my local hummingbirds for the last three years. We always have
1:10
them come back to our house. I had started with one hummingbird feeder. Then I got two. Then I started
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training the hummingbirds to sit on my finger and drink from the feeder while I'm there. They're like
1:20
my best friends and they're not scared of me at all. They will come like this close to me if I'm near
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their feeder. So I'm hoping to create, you know, I got to keep upgrading their heads
1:28
house every year. As I grow, we got to give back to them and grow for them. So we're not just doing
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feeders this year. We're doing plants. And we're doing this in partnership with the spomo organic
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because they create the best soil and fertilizer for the plants that we are going to plant. And we want them
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to flower and throw off so many blooms to attract the hummingbirds to give them shelter, to give them
1:51
food, and to give them a little joy, too. So when it comes to plants that attract hummingbirds
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here are a few things you need to know. Obviously, they flutter around with their long beak
2:02
So they like trumpet-shaped flowers. So I have petunias. I have fuchsas
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Any hummingbirds tend to like any trumpet-shaped flower that they can insert their beak into to get the nectar
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So I tried to get as many different varieties at the garden center as possible
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They also are attracted to pink and red. So you will see the majority of the flowers that I'm growing in this garden today are going to be pink
2:26
and red with a couple pops of yellow because, hey, we've got other local pollinators here, too
2:31
And although this is for my hummingbirds, I felt like I should probably have a few things for
2:35
the other pollinators as well. I want the access to the plants to be as low maintenance as
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possible for them. I want these plants to be screaming at them to let them know, hey, come here
2:43
have a drink, and entertain Maria. This window is actually the window to my office. So I see straight
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out all day long. So I'm hoping to just attract all the hummingbirds as little distractions for me
2:54
throughout the day. But I got these really low maintenance easy to assemble planters from Amazon
3:00
They have a hole in the bottom, which is awesome. And they come like this. They like have their
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arms and then you just stick this on and we'll be able to hang it. I'm a renter. I don't want to
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drill anything into these balconies. So this is a really low maintenance, renter friendly option
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for if you want to add a little beauty and balloons to your window boxes or to your balconies
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and also feed your local pollinators. So I'm sitting here. and I'm looking at all of these plants
3:25
and I'm feeling overwhelmed, but I feel like we just need to dive in So let dive in Obviously I want these plants to throw off a lot of blooms So I going to be filling all of these containers with a stoma potting mix and then biotone starter plant food
3:38
We're growing in container. So we have grow bags and we have a few plastic grow pots. The one thing
3:42
you need to know about grow bags is they do dry out pretty quickly. So it's good that a bunch of
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these plants are native plants. They tend to be a little bit more drought tolerant. But because of that
3:50
it's important to fill them with high quality organic potting mix that is really going to support
3:54
It's going to retain moisture, but it's not going to retain moisture too much. It's like this whole dance that Espoma does very well
4:00
And also because of the retaining moisture, I might add a little bit of land and sea compost in as well
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All right. So I'm going to show you how I plant up a grow bag. And then I'll show you how I plant up one of these guys
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So for the grow bag, this one, we're going to put a bee bomb in. This is a red bee bomb
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It's going to have really beautiful red flowers, which will attract the hummingbirds here
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I'm going to start. with some potting mix. I should put gloves on, but I don't like wearing gloves when I garden
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So sue me. So I planted the grow bag with potting mix
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I'm now going to sprinkle some biotone starter plant food. This helps prevent transplant loss
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It's got microaise. It's got all sorts of good stuff that is going to help the plants establish faster
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prevent transplant loss, absorb water. And now we have. our gorgeous people. I'm not going to disturb the roots too much. I might just give it a little
4:59
pinch and I'm going to plant it into the grove bag and now I'm going to top fill it and then top
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dress it with a little bit of compost. Especially with these grow bags, it's important to pat the plants
5:16
down because the growbacks can kind of wiggle and move and as it rains the soil is going to get a little
5:23
compacted. Oopsie, sorry. So I'm going to make sure that I'm giving the root fall a lot of support
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I've never grown BeeBomb before. I'm very excited to try growing it for the first time
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Obviously, it attracts other pollinators besides hummingbirds because its nickname is BeeBomb
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We clearly have a lot of those at my house. And then I might top dress this with a little bit of
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compost later today or even later in the season. BeeBomb is also a perennial for most garden zones
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So I'm kind of treating a lot of these like annuals, but if I leave this in its growback
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it will die back and then come back again. Perennials come back season after season
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Annuals are something you plant once. It has its entire lifespan for that one gardening season and then it dies back and you're done
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So this is a perennial. It's wonderful if you're planting in ground in your gardens and you want to attract hummingbirds
6:13
Also, it looks really pretty in a bouquet. Now let's plant up one of these cutey little... Whoops
6:20
Now let's plant up one of my favorite plants. And I love that hummingbirds love it selfishly because I also love it
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This is fuchsia. These blooms are so insane. If you know me, you know hot pink is my favorite color
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I love the purple and pink petals. And the shape of the fuchsia is perfect for the hummingbird to kind of insert its beak into
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So we're going to give this its own show with its own pot. The version of this is called Areches Upright
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Jolese Nancy and it's going to be the same situation. We are going to put a little bit of biotone at the bottom Pop the plant out kind of measure to see where the top you want the top of the soil that it planted in to be the top of your new replanting So I kind of want it to be
7:14
maybe a centimeter lower than the lip. And now I'm going to backfill. All right, I have a lot
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of planting to do. I don't need to, you don't need to watch me plant every single one of these pots up
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All right, everything is planted up. And now I'm going to give everybody a very thorough water to help the soil settle
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You want to make sure that you water, so water drips out the bottom of the pot
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because the soil obviously is dry when it comes in the bag. And you need to hydrate the soil and also allow it to settle in the pot to protect the root system
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that you just kind of disrupted and then, you know, gave a new bigger container to grow
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grow forth and be joyful. And now we josh. I already have this planter that I planted a couple of weeks ago, actually
8:03
This was a planter I got from the dollar store. It didn't have holes in the bottom. And I actually took a drill and drilled holes in the bottom, which makes me really appreciate these planters
8:12
So I'm thinking that this will be the anchor. We have Dianthus, English daisies, marigolds, and sweetilism in it
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The pink will attract. The yellow marigolds will also attract bees and other pollinators
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Then we have beautiful pots of Lantana and Zinia. I was just installing a garden for my sister in Florida, and we planted Lantana there
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The minute we planted the Lantana, not the minute, I'd say three minutes after we planted the
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lanana and water it in, a huge butterfly flew over right on the Lantana
8:47
So this is a very pollinator-friendly plant. Then I plant geraniums every season for my grandma as a memory because she had a ton of geraniums
8:55
but they're also a great pollinator plant. They have this beautiful bloom with white and pink
9:01
It's really so beautiful, this variegated blossom. And then we also have these red tubular flowers
9:07
What is the name of this? I think I might have buried the plant tag in the pot a little too deep
9:12
But they're red and they will attract our hummy boys. All right, last but at least, my beautiful fuchsia
9:20
We're going to hang this over here. Let me do a little bit of zhuzing
9:25
And I'll be right back. Okay, we're getting there from a cleaning standpoint
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Here are the plants that we have, and then I'm going to do a couple of final touches to make this truly a hummingbird paradise
9:44
So from over here, we have some perennial plants that I've been growing in these pots for several years
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I actually have no idea what's in that planter. We'll find out this summer after it blooms
9:53
We have snapdragons that have come back a couple of times. In these planters, we have the geranium. I found the plant tag for this. It is red hot Sally Salvia. Hummingbirds love salvias and especially the red glooming kind. Then we've got Lanana. We've got Zinias. We've got the bee bombs surrounded by Salosia and a bunch of purple sweet elisim. We have lemon basil, snapdragons, more Alism, more snapd dragons. I have a purple echinacea cone flower in here because they like the cone flowers and a lot of other pollinators like the
10:26
as well We have what I already planted Then basically I made doubles of each planter just for some nice symmetry We got our fuchsia These are two different types of poppies I grown I don think poppies are a hummingbird plant but they are a great flower for pollinator So these will also be experimental
10:43
And then for our final touches. I am partial to the hummingbirds, but I love all birds
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If you know me, I'm a bird lady. I have a parakeet. I love birds more than anything
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So I also set up bird feeders from the dollar store filled with bird seed for our local
11:00
bird seeds. We have a ton of juncos. We have cardinals. We have so many morning doves that my bird loves. And they all, it's like my bird lives in my workshop. My bird lives in my office with me. So every time the birds come to visit the balcony, they also visit him. What other birds do we have? I have like a little bird ID pamphlet that I keep at my office desk so that when we get a new bird, I can identify them. I feel like that is your 30s into your 40s is like becoming a bird watcher. So anyway, we have two bird
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feeders for the non-hummy boys. I also have hummingbird feeders all over my house. I think I have
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three or four or four. You make a homemade solution, four parts water, one part sugar. You let the water
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boil, you add the sugar in, you let it cool down, and you want the feeder to be red because the
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hummingbirds will be attracted to the red. Don't buy the colored juice at the store. Just make your
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own sugar water for the hummingbirds. We have that here. For my also own enjoyment, I do have one of
12:02
my Wind River Wind Chimes over here. The wind chime will sing with the birds
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And last but not least, we have this epic petunia. This is a supertunia from Proven Winners
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It is so epic. It is so large. I've never had one before
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but we're going to grow it as a hanging plant right here. And I think if the hummingbirds can't find me
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and all of the amazing food that I've created, they've got a problem
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But I have a feeling this balcony is going to be filled with hummingbirds. the summer. I'm so excited. I really hope that all of these plants are an offering to the hummingbirds
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and that they come and they hang out and they bring their other bird friends and their other
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pollinator friends because the thing is you grow joy by growing beautiful flowers, right? Flowers
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bring humans joy. But the other thing that brings us joy is giving back to our environment and
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part of that and part of our responsibility as gardeners and as humans is supporting our local
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pollinators and supporting our local birds. And that's really what this balcony garden is. It's an offering
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to my local birds. And I don't care if that makes me crazy. So let me know your favorite plants that
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you have noticed hummingbirds are attracted to. Do you have a plant that's been in your front yard that you
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notice your hummingbirds come back to every single year? I want to know which one it is in the comments
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Let me know if you have any other suggestions for how I can make my balcony bird friendly. I have been
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Googling bird baths a lot on the internet. I think in the next month there might be an addition
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of a bird bath to this balcony as well. Thank you so much to a spoma organic for sponsoring today's
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episode and supporting my passion for hummingbirds and birds. If you're gardening, whether you're
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gardening in containers and ground with your houseplants, they have a potting soil, a fertilizer
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and all sorts of support that your plants need to grow big and healthy. Follow me on Instagram so I can
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keep you updated on how these plants bloom, what blooms forth, what pot
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Pollinators come, maybe beyond the hummingbirds. I'm keeping my fingers crossed the local squirrels
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Don't find this. And I hope you grow some pollinator-friendly plants, specifically hummingbird-friendly plants
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because it will, without a doubt, help you continue to keep growing joy
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