Flowering Vines That Attract Hummingbirds

Trumpet Creeper

• Trumpet creeper (Campis radicans) is ideal for hummingbird gardens, notes the Missouri Botanical Garden, growing to 40 feet and useful as a climbing vine or as ground cover. Trumpet creeper is a native vine in the southeastern United States, featuring scarlet, trumpet-shaped summer flowers and shiny, green compound foliage. Trumpet creeper has interest after the flowers finish blooming, as the flowers result in seedpods as long as 5 inches. Trumpet creeper possesses tiny rootlets that allow the vine to attach to trees, trellises, buildings and fences as it grows.

Red Passion Flower

• High levels of humidity do not deter the growth of the red passion flower (Passiflora coccinea), a 10- to 12-foot long evergreen vine originating from South American nations such as Brazil and Peru. The vine survives outside from USDA zone 10 through 12, proving hard to resist to butterflies and hummingbirds. Red passion flower works as a houseplant as well, allowing you to bring it indoors to avoid frost. Once any frost threat passes in spring, use this vines in containers on patios to attract hummingbirds. Red passion flower blooms from July into September, turning out 4-inch-wide scarlet blossoms.

Cypress Vine

• The tropical nature of the cypress vine (Ipomoea quamoclit) makes it an annual in the United States. It has the ability to produce enough seeds to sprout new growth in the spring, but is not so aggressive that it crowds out native species where it escapes cultivation. Cypress vine has red flowers from June through October that hummingbirds visit for their nectar. Cypress vine grows to 20 feet, but most mature between 6 and 10 feet long. Use cypress vine, a member of the morning glory family of plants, to cover decks, fences and other structures on your property where you can watch for hummingbirds.

Trumpet Honeysuckle

• Trumpet honeysuckle (Lonicera sempervirens) is hardy between USDA zones 4 and 9, growing wild in much of the East and South. Trumpet honeysuckle flowers are yellow in the interiors, but red-orange on the outside, growing up to 2 inches long and blooming in May and June. Trumpet honeysuckle is a twining vine that winds its way around trellises and pergolas. Growing to 20 feet long, trumpet honeysuckle gives the added benefit of producing red berries, which become part of the diets of many songbirds, come autumn. Hummingbirds whiz about this vine when it isin bloom, according to the University of Connecticut Plant Database.