10 Stunning Hanging Basket Flower Combos To Attract Hummingbirds

Hummingbird-loving gardeners have several tools at their disposal to attract the tiny visitors: feeders, flower beds, and, last but not least, hanging baskets. Like flower beds, hanging baskets are living ecosystems — albeit on a miniature scale — that combine multiple flowering plants into dazzling, hummer-attracting arrangements. When building these groupings, it makes sense to look at plant characteristics that attract hummingbirds. For example, 'Hummingbird Falls' salvia, verbena, and lobelia make for a vibrant pink and purple pairing, while hot-hued lantana and firecracker plant can take the heat. Creeping gloxinia and shrimp plant both boast tubular flowers hummingbirds love.

Plants with vibrantly colored flowers work best, especially those with red blooms. Although hummingbirds instinctively prefer red, the red-hued feeders humans hang in gardens may also contribute to this attraction. Hummers are drawn to orange, pink, and yellow almost as much as red. The shape and position of a flower also matter. Petunia blooms are the perfect fit for a hummer's hover, while hummingbirds' beaks are adapted to sip nectar from trumpet-shaped flowers (and vice versa — the profile of the flowers has adapted to cater to hummers' feeding habits). You might think fragrance attracts hummingbirds, and indeed, several plants on this list smell lovely, but the birds have no sense of smell. In fact, what attracts hummers the most are single flowers with a high concentration of nectar.

Combine cigar plant, 'Superbells Saffron,' calibrachoa, and begonia in your hanging planter for a mix of vibrant colors and flower shapes that hummingbirds love. All three species are hardy in Zones 9 to 11 or grown as annuals. Cigar plant (Cuphea ignea) boasts red, tubular flowers that bloom continuously and will transform your yard into a hummingbird haven on its own. Begonia (Begonia boliniensis) has orange-red flowers in spring, summer, and fall, and is easy to grow. Add fast-growing yellow-flowering 'Superbells Saffron' calibrachoa as a spiller.

Plant the relatively new hybrid 'Hummingbird Falls' salvia (Salvia x guarantica 'Hummingbird Falls') as your basket's centerpiece. Each flower is like a tubular well of nectar for hummingbirds. This salvia is hardy in Zones 8 to 10. Add verbena (Abronia fragrans), which comes in a variety of flower colors and thrives in Zones 7 to 10. Hummingbirds love this dainty flower — deadhead the blooms to encourage the plant to produce more. Trailing lobelia (Lobelia erinus) also has flowers in various hues, grows in Zones 10 to 11, and blooms lavishly.

Need a hanging basket arrangement that tolerates drought and heat while bringing in the hummers? Lantana (Lantana camara), hardy in Zones 8 to 11, is often considered the vibrant hummingbird-attracting flower you'll regret planting in your yard because it's invasive in some states. Choose an infertile variety with red-spectrum blooms, such as a cultivar in the Bloomify series, for your hanging basket to ensure the plant doesn't spread by seed. Pair your lantana with firecracker plant (Russelia equisetiformis), selected for its vibrant tubular flowers that hummers love.

For a powerful pop of color, pair Spreading Petunia Wave 'Purple Classic' (Petunia x hybrida) — its bright tubular blooms offer easy access to nectar for hummers — with autumn sage (Salvia greggii). The latter plant is a gorgeous sage variety to plant in September to attract hummingbirds migrating in the fall, especially because it's hardy in Zones 6 to 9. 'Purple Classic' is part of the Wave series of beautiful petunia varieties that will keep hummingbirds coming back for more. Plus, it's easy to grow. Deadhead the flowers for continuous blooming.

Plant up a hanging basket with any one of the beautiful varieties of blazing star that hummingbirds love, then surround the purple-blooming centerpiece with the dazzling red flowers of 'Cherry Rose Jewel' nasturtium. The latter is a Tropaeolum majus cultivar that thrives in Zones 2 to 11, blooms early and abundantly, and has trailing vines that will flow over the rim of your planter. Bonus: The leaves and flowers are edible! Blazing star (Liatris spicata) is hardy in Zones 3 to 9 and, like nasturtium, easily tolerates poor soils.

Fuchsia, trailing impatiens, and hardy begonia make a great hummingbird basket combination for a shady area. 'Marinka,' a fuchsia cultivar with deep coral-red, drop-like flowers, is one of the best fuchsias for luring hummingbirds to your yard. It's grown as an annual below Zone 9. New Guinea impatiens (Impatiens hawkeri), also typically grown as an annual, is a low-maintenance pairing with blooms in a rainbow of colors. The flowers don't need deadheading. Begonia grandis, commonly known as hardy begonia, thrives in Zones 6 to 9  — try 'Pink Teardrops' in your hanging basket.

The trumpet or funnel shape of creeping gloxinia (Lophospermum erubescens) blooms will delight visiting hummingbirds. The plant grows rapidly and works well as a spiller in a hanging basket. It has white or brilliant pink flowers. Pair it with an easy-care tropical shrimp plant (Justicia brandegeeana), which is best known for its odd yellow, red, or purple flower bracts that resemble shrimp. Inside the bracts sit long white flowers that attract hummingbirds to your yard with their cache of nectar. Neither plant will survive winters outside warmer zones, but can be brought inside.

Gartenmeister fuchsia (Fuchsia triphylla 'Gartenmeister Bonstedt') is an orange to red blooming, heat-tolerant shrub that will dependably attract hummingbirds in a hanging basket. This weeping plant will spill over the rim of any pot. Wishbone flower (Torenia fournieri) is the perfect complement — adding this two-toned flower to your hanging basket is sure to attract hummingbirds. Wishbone flowers are pansy lookalikes that can handle hot summers. Treated as annuals outside of their respective growing zones — 9 to 11 for fuchsia and 10 to 11 for wishbone flower — both plants bloom abundantly.

To create a hummingbird-attracting hanging basket with native plants, western columbine (Aquilegia formosa) and coral bells (Heuchera) are inspired choices. Both plants bloom early, providing nectar that will support hummingbirds in your garden during spring migration season, and are hardy in Zones 3 to 9. The red and yellow blooms on western columbine blend nicely with the colorful foliage and coral-hued, bell-shaped blooms of coral bells. The latter is famous as a plant that will entice more hummingbirds to visit your yard, so long as you remember to deadhead spent blooms.

Bring together similar red-orange flowers — dwarf scarlet runner beans (Phaseolus coccineus) and the Campfire 'Flame Apache' bidens hybrid — for a fiery hanging basket that's as attractive to hummingbirds as it is to people. Even the black-and-pink fruit of the scarlet runner bean is colorful — and edible! The bright red flowers of scarlet runner beans, which open at sunrise each day, are a hummer magnet, as are the orange and yellow blooms of the 'Flame Apache' bidens. Grow both plants as annuals for best results.