Not Salvia, Not Bee Balm: This Red Flower Attracts Hummingbirds All Summer & Fall

Salvia and bee balm are both flowers that attract hummingbirds with their beautiful, colorful blossoms, but there's another bloom that's irresistible to your feathered friends. Mandevilla (Mandevilla spp.) is perfect for keeping hummingbirds returning to your yard throughout the summer season and into fall. These plants have a rather long flowering duration, and will produce gorgeous blossoms from the start of summer until it gets cold in autumn. In some warmer climates, mandevillas will flower from March through November. This ensures your local hummingbirds keep coming back for a drink of fresh nectar, and you get to enjoy beautiful flowers for even longer. Though many flowers wilt in the summer heat, mandevilas won't bloom until it starts getting hotter. Because they are native to tropical areas, mandevillas thrive in hot, humid environments, making them an ideal flower for the entire summer season.

Mandevilla's are tubular shaped flowers with gorgeous colors of red, though they can also be pink, white, yellow, or even blue. Hummingbirds are known to favor flowers with this tube-like shape, and red and pink are also colors that encourage hummingbirds to visit your garden. Even though mandevilla flowers don't have a scent like other perfumy flowers, this makes no difference to the hummingbirds. Hummingbirds are attracted to flowers by sight rather than smell, and the shape and color of mandevillas will invite them into your garden. Besides hummingbirds, mandevillas are also attractive to butterflies and other pollinators, helping to support beneficial insects as well as birds.

If you want to enjoy the stunning blossoms of mandevillas and attract more hummingbirds to your space, you'll need to provide your plants with proper care. To get the best and most blooms, place your mandevillas in an area that gets full sunlight for at least 6 hours every day. Because these flowers love sunlight and heat, they flower better when they get more sun. If you don't have a spot with total sun, mandevillas will still grow in partial shade. Though this plant prefers a moist, loamy soil, it will grow in various soil types as long as it has good drainage. Make sure to water your flowers often and to fertilize the plant consistently throughout the growing season.

Mandevillas can be grown as annuals in your garden in cooler regions, as they will die after experiencing a frost. Alternatively, containerized flowers act as perennials if you bring them indoors for winter. This allows you to use the same plants every year to bring more hummingbirds into your space. Because they are vining plants, mandevillas are fantastic for filling hanging baskets or boxes on your porch, which brings the hummingbirds even closer. Otherwise, grow your vibrant flowers in a pot with a trellis, frame, or stake to support the vining stems and blooms. Mandevillas don't mind a bit of pruning, so you can trim them to look bushier rather than flowing to accommodate your planter.