Straw Poll time........

[Andy Thatcher]

A couple down the road from me have a lovely Mimosa Tree and Bottle Brush Tree's are also common around here.

Even though I am a transplant I was wondering if there are any native tree's that are as effective at attracting hummingbirds.

Not even certain I should be concerned about the whole native - non native thing as a lot of the plants used to attract hummers are patently not native.

[flrubyluver]

Hi Andy:

I have a redbud tree that is suppose to be attractive to butterflies and hummingbirds. It has beautiful pink blooms in spring however, I don't see many butterflies that early in the spring and my redbud isn't that big yet to make a bold statement when blooming for the hummingbirds to take notice.

I'm an advocate for native plants and I've read that native plants have much more nectar than cultured plants. Our pollinators are having difficulty because the alot of the cultured plants are pretty for us to look at but are basically worthless to the pollinators.

As for the Mimosa tree I found from the Floridata website: "It is classified as Exotic for Florida - here's an excerpt from their site:: Silk tree is listed by the Florida Exotic Pest Plant Council as a Category I species, defined as an invasive exotic plant that is disrupting native plant communities. In many parts of Florida and the southeast, silk tree has invaded road shoulders, abandoned fields and (in rare cases) natural habitats.

Hope this information is of help!!! Go Native is my vote!

BH
Hernando County, FL