Hummingbirds are among the most special urban wildlife that share our neighborhoods. They seem to instantly appear, do their work with incredible speed and then flit quickly off. If you are lucky enough to have plants that attract hummingbirds, you can get a glimpse of these wonderful birds up close.
Over the past several weeks, this Grevillea planted outside our kitchen window has been visited by hummingbirds. This video was taken by Cindy Bravo one afternoon while she and Anne Lombard were birdwatching.
The Grevillea (Grevillea ‘Moonlight’), show above is also known as silk oak and native to Australia but works well in our Southern California climate. This variety is a large fast-growing upright shrub up to 12 feet tall by 8 feet wide with fine textured foliage and large ivory-colored spidery toothbrush-like flowers at the branch tips nearly year-round. The green leaves (gray on the underside) are 6 to 8 inches long so large in profile but finely dissected and fern-like, according to San Marcos Growers.
Monrovia sells another variety, the Noell Grevillea, this variety is small tree-like plant with graceful branches and rose-red flowers that emerge over a long blooming season attracting birds, bees and hummingbirds for months.
The Grevillea was listed in Sunset Magazine’s Top 50 water-wise plants.
