Hey, hi! Today, I’m coming to you from my own garden, but more specifically, behind me right here is one of my very favorite plants. This is my bottle brush, and it’s not blooming right now, but when it does, it produces beautiful red brush-like blooms, hence the name. Because I already know that hummingbirds are attracted to these, it has inspired me to use the power of ChatGPT to help me research how to create a hummingbird garden.
Hummingbirds really take me back to my childhood. Ever since I can remember, my mom had a hummingbird feeder in her garden. So, I wanted to learn a little bit more about hummingbirds. I honestly hadn’t given them a lot of thought, but then one day, I was sitting outside of their house, and I’m not kidding, for like 45 minutes, I watched these two hummingbirds go at it. I mean, they were totally fighting over the bird feeder, and it was the coolest thing I’ve ever seen.
So, I asked ChatGPT to tell me a few interesting facts about hummingbirds, and of course, she answered. I like to call her a she. Of course, they are the smallest birds with rapid wing flapping and a high metabolism. They also have exceptional memory and are known for their territorial behavior. This is exactly what I was watching. Hummingbirds are known for their territorial nature; they vigorously defend their feeding territories, often engaging in aerial battles. It was the coolest thing, y’all. They were totally going at it in the air. It was so neat.
But then, I really needed to know what plants I’m going to plant. This time, I went into a little more description of what I wanted because I find it narrows the results a little bit better, and sometimes I get lists that are just way too long. But ChatGPT helped me design the hummingbird garden. I already have a bottle brush and a feeder, but I want three to four more plants that will help attract them. I live in Charleston, South Carolina, so I will need plants that are good for a humid subtropical climate.
She gave me four results, which were perfect, just what I asked for: Salvia, trumpet vine, Coral honeysuckle, and bee balm. That sounds neat. That’s a good start. And here, it tells me to make sure that I choose diversity and that they bloom at different times throughout the year. That’s a really good point. Native plants are better for the local wildlife, and I’m already planning on doing a very sunny area, so perfect.
Oh, a bird bath! That’d be cool. That’s a great idea. Now, I know a lot of hummingbird plants are red, and I don’t want just a straight-up red garden. So, I wanted to make sure that I got some options in here that are not red. And of course, there are several plants that are not red. I think some of these even come in red, but they come in just different colors as well. So, that’s really cool. Butterfly bush sounds interesting, and trumpet creeper sounds really cool.
So, here, you see I got another list of about eight plants, which is still a manageable list. So, we have about 12 plants that we can go for, and now we just really need to narrow that down. I think going to the local nursery and seeing what they have in the way of native plants will really go a long way. And then, just making sure that I choose the right spot, and hopefully, I’ll be able to create a beautiful hummingbird garden.
So, I went ahead and put together a little collage just to see some pictures of these different plants that were recommended to us. ChatGPT did a pretty great job. Many of them are red, but I see some yellow and orange and purple, so that’s really delightful. And I think it will give us a huge variety within our new hummingbird garden.
Thanks for joining me! Don’t forget to like and share, and see you next time. Bye!
