The Hummingbirds Are Back: David Salman’s Hummingbird Garden
Posted By High Country Gardens Content Team on Jul 23, 2009 · Revised on Oct 15, 2026
Posted By High Country Gardens Content Team on Jul 23, 2009 · Revised on Oct 15, 2026
By David Salman, High Country Gardens Founder
In spring, hummingbirds start to make their appearance in my gardens. At first, it is one bird, and then there are 3 or 4 hanging out, sipping, fussing, and moving deliberately from flower to flower on their favorite perennials. Being an avid hummingbird gardener, my garden is bursting with "natural nectar." By choosing summer and early-fall blooming plants, my garden will provide hummingbirds with a continuous supply of nectar well into fall as they migrate southward.
Late summer is the time of the year when gardeners here in New Mexico, Arizona, and west Texas are waiting for our life-giving monsoon-like rains and the return of the hummingbirds. The soaking rains revive our heat and drought-stressed gardens, and the natural nectar plants that feed the hummingbirds will be in full bloom. We get about 60-70% of our annual precipitation in New Mexico in July, August, and early September.
The return of the rain is very good news for the hummingbirds as well. The hummingbird population in Santa Fe is transitory, with the numbers of these tiny birds peaking in early September as they move their way south to their winter grounds in Mexico, as well as southern Arizona and New Mexico. In other parts of the country, hummingbird migrations will vary in their timing and their preferred "natural nectar" flowers will vary as well.
I've been especially enamored with the Sages and Hummingbird Mints for many decades, so my gardens are over-flowering with as many of them as I can fit into my beds. Some of my favorite Agastache include Agastache cana ‘Rosita’, Agastache ‘Ava’, Agastache rupestris (Grant Co., NM collection), Agastache rupestris ‘Glowing Embers’, and the hybrid Agastache ‘Blue Blazes’. My favorite Sages include various Salvia greggii cultivars and hybrids, including ‘Raspberry Delight’, ‘Furman’s Red’, ‘Ultra Violet’, ‘Maraschino’, and a fabulous and very tough native from the Davis Mountains of West TX, Salvia reptans.
The Legacy of David Salman | High Country Gardens founder David Salman was a pioneer of waterwise gardening, a passionate plant explorer, and a charismatic storyteller. His commitment to cultivating a palette of beautiful waterwise plants transformed gardening in the American West.
