Bright colors, unique shapes and other adaptations make Beebalm, Wild Columbine and other flora attractive to hummingbirds
by Mike Dunn

When I worked at the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences, I once told an applicant for an educator position that she would need to know five native red wildflowers in order to get the job. I now don’t remember my exact reasoning for that statement, but she hesitantly named five red flowers and got the job (not just because of that), and she has gone on to become a fantastic naturalist. 

There aren’t many native red flowers in the Piedmont. There are a number of plants that can be considered red if you’re lenient with pink or purple shades, but what I had in mind was that vivid red you see in a male Northern cardinal. 

Maybe a better question would have been “Why are there different colors of flowers?” Scientists believe that flower colors evolved as a means of attracting specific pollinators. For example, yellow, blue and purple flowers are more attractive to various species of bees. Bees see a different color spectrum than humans and are more sensitive to blue, purple and ultraviolet light, which makes these flowers particularly bright to them. Alongside the shape, structure and other adaptations of a plant, its color helps ensure future generations of its species.

Red flowers are more attractive to certain butterflies and hummingbirds. It turns out that hummingbirds have a dense concentration of cones in their retina that enhances their ability to see red and yellow hues! The relative scarcity of red flowers in our landscape may be due to the fact we have primarily a single species of hummingbird in the East, the Ruby-throated hummingbird. In the western United States, there are several species of hummingbirds in most areas, so many species of plants have evolved to be attractive to these specialized pollinators. 

Here are my favorite red flowers — plus a closer look at each to understand why they’re so important within our landscape. 

Beebalm, Monarda didyma

Beebalm goes by a number of other common names including bergamot and Oswego Tea. The latter comes from the use of this plant as a tea. John Bartram, a botanist and explorer in the mid-1700s, learned that the plant was used by native tribes in upstate New York as a tea to treat chills and fevers. He was near Fort Oswego, the native name of the nearby river, and that became the name of the plant. After the Boston Tea Party of 1773, tea made from Beebalm became even more popular, calling it Oswego tea. Being a member of the mint family, all parts of the plant have a wonderful aroma.

The flowers and leaves have a scent similar to that of a bergamot orange (hence the other common name), and dried leaves can be used in potpourri.The most popular common name, Beebalm, comes from a salve derived from the plant’s juices used to ease the pain from bee stings. Bees are not this plant’s best pollinator since the nectar is stored in long, arching tubes they can’t reach easily, but it is readily visited by large butterflies and hummingbirds.

Wild columbine, Aquilegia canadensis

Wild columbine is one of the early red bloomers in our yard. Though more common in habitats in the mountains, it does very well in the Piedmont. It blooms in spring when hummingbirds return from their wintering grounds. The flower appears to be upside down, with its parts hanging out of the bottom, but the nectar is in the swollen tips of its five long upright spurs. This requires something with a long tongue to reach it — like hummingbirds. That said, the flowers are said to be primarily self- pollinated.

Bumblebees also relish the nectar but can’t reach it, so they cut a hole in the spurs to get to it. Another insect sign to look for are light-colored squiggly lines on the leaves. These are made by a leaf miner, the larva of a small fly that specializes in the leaves of columbine. An egg is laid on the bottom of the leaf and the larva chews into the leaf and feeds between its, leaving a trail. As the flowers mature. The petals drop off and the flower head tilts upward. The fruit consists of five small green tubes, joined together at the base. When they dry, the now-tan tubes split open, revealing numerous shiny black seeds. These are shaken out by the wind or the brush of a passing gardener’s leg. It is one of the easiest wildflowers to germinate, and our yard is blessed by dozens of these flowering beauties.

Fire pink, Silene virginica 

The Fire pink is a member of the pink or carnation family of flowers, despite the fact that its flowers are fire engine red (which perhaps explains its common name). It is a poor competitor, so you often see it isolated or in small clumps in areas where there is sparse vegetation. The five petals are distinctively notched at their tips. The whorled sepals and stems are adorned with minute sticky hairs. This may be an adaptation to prevent crawling insects like ants from stealing the nectar. Once flowering is complete, the equally sticky seed pods droop down, releasing the seeds onto the ground below.

Coral honeysuckle, Lonicera sempervirens 

Coral honeysuckle was a plant I heartily recommended to schools and landowners in my time at the museum. This native vine typically grows in partial shade but has more blooms on plants growing in full sun. It is not as aggressive as its better-known (and invasive) cousin, Japanese honeysuckle, but can provide a pleasing display when planted along a fence or other place where it can climb. Its scarlet tubular flowers dangle in clusters from the tips of vines in early spring when hummingbirds first arrive. Scan it for caterpillars of the Snowberry Clearwing moth (a day-flying moth that resembles a bumblebee) and Spring Azure butterflies on the leaves. Historically, humans chewed the leaves to relieve pain from bee stings. The fruits are eaten by birds and, of course, hummingbirds love the flowers.

Cardinal flower, Lobelia cardinalis

Another summer bloomer is the Cardinal flower. The common name is in reference to the red robes worn by Roman Catholic cardinals. The intense color of this odd-shaped flower has long made it popular among gardeners and botanists. Roger Tory Peterson, the famous naturalist, artist and author of numerous classic field guides to North American flora and fauna, singled out this plant as “America’s favorite” in his Field Guide to Wildflowers. John Burroughs, a famous 19th-century naturalist, described it this way: “There is a glow about this flower as if color emanated from it as from a live coal.”

The Cardinal flower is the perfect pairing for hummingbirds. If you look at their range maps, they overlap to a great degree, owing, no doubt, to the dependence of the flower on the pollination compatibility of these hummingbirds. Cardinal flower grows naturally in damp areas, often along stream banks. It is adaptable and grows well in any area with good soil, sun or part shade. The flower stalk can bloom from July into September, with flowers opening from the bottom up. The plants are protandrous, meaning the male parts (stamens and anthers) mature before the female flower parts (style and stigma).

The stamens form a tube around the immature style. When a flower first opens, it has pollen dangling from the tip of that tube, ready to be deposited on the head of a visiting hummingbird. As the flower matures, the style continues to grow and extends beyond the flower tube, the anthers wither, and the stigma becomes receptive to pollen. On any one stalk, you will likely have flowers near the top releasing pollen while those below have receptive stigmas ready to receive pollen. As a hummingbird pushes its bill into flowers for nectar, the fused tube bends down, allowing it to pick up pollen on top of its head and deposit pollen grains on the receptive stigmas of others.  

This article originally appeared in the July 2025 issue of WALTER magazine.