Hummingbirds Adore This Bell-Shaped Annual Plant (& It's Easy To Grow From Seed)

Hummingbirds are some of the most delightful visitors you can attract to your garden. In addition to being cute, these tiny birds can eat up to 2,000 insects per day. Their favorite bugs to snack on include aphids, ants, mosquitoes, and other pests that many gardeners struggle with. So if you want to attract more of these adorable pest management helpers to your garden, consider planting Honeywort (Cerinthe major).

A member of the borage family and native to the Mediterranean, Honeywort is a vibrant flowering plant that hummingbirds will love. The stunning bell-shaped purple flowers have the tubular shape and bright color that hummingbirds are attracted to and the honey-flavored nectar inside the flowers will keep the birds satisfied. While the flowers provide a rich source of nectar to hummingbirds, the plant also adds a burst of vibrant purple color to your spring garden. A great choice for beginner gardeners, this flower can easily grow from seed. The tradeoff is that it does re-seed itself readily so you'll need to make seed harvesting part of your summer gardening routine to prevent the plant from spreading all over your yard.

It won't take too much work on your part to grow a lush patch of honeywort in your garden. Start seeds outdoors in spring after your last frost date or indoors up to six weeks before that frost date. Either way, soak them in water overnight to increase seed germination rate and then plant them about a ¼ inch deep in individual plugs or directly in the ground. Mist the soil regularly to keep the area moist, but not soggy.

To encourage as many blooms as possible, plant your honeywort in full sun in average or poor soil with good drainage and keep the soil moist. If the soil is too rich, the plant might focus more on growing lush foliage rather than producing flowers. The attractive foliage will look great, but if your goal is to attract hummingbirds to your garden, you want to plant honeywort where it's most likely to expend its energy on developing blooms. You should also deadhead spent flowers regularly. Be warned, those pretty purple flowers will produce large, round black seeds, that can be broadcast by the plant using an explosive release mechanism, so it has the potential to spread to other parts of your yard. So, make a habit of checking for seeds often. You can collect the seeds as you find them to save for next year's garden.