Kid's Corner: Making Hummingbird Food

Hummingbirds are probably one of my favorite birds to watch. They zip all around my garden visiting all my flowers. So when I am planning out my clients' designs, I always make sure to add plants that are hummingbird food such as salvias, heuchera, penstemon, fuschia, and ribes. Although these plants create quality food for hummingbirds in your garden, it can also be fun to add a hummingbird feeder to the mix. Watching hummingbirds at the feeder can be a delightful experience for the kid in all of us.

Hummingbird feeders (my hummingbird feeder) should be placed in a visible location to your windows (ie. outside your kitchen window, your child's room etc). Placing them in these locations will allow you to watch these birds often and fully enjoy the experience. You may find yourself having to refill the feeder often since hummingbirds will be visiting your feeder often. So how do you keep up? The cheapest and easiest way is to make your own nectar.

Materials:

• 1/4 cup refined white sugar

[Please do use refined white sugar! Honey can promote dangerous fungal growth, while organic, natural, and raw sugars contain levels of iron that could be harmful. Plain white table sugar is sucrose, which, when mixed with water, very closely mimics the chemical composition of natural nectar.]

• 1 cup boiling water

• Bowl

• Spoon

Note: There's no need for red dye here. Red coloring is not necessary and the chemicals could prove to be harmful to the birds.

Steps:

1. Mix sugar and boiling water until sugar is dissolved.

2. Cool and fill feeder.

3. Hang up your feeder outside and wait for the hummingbirds to come.

Enjoy!