Try one or more of these tips, and you should begin to see hummers around your yard soon.

Plant A Hummingbird Garden:

One good way to attract Hummingbirds is by planting a Hummingbird garden. In addition to providing them a natural diet, a hummer garden is an excellent way to attract birds to your nearby feeder since hummingbirds feed by sight on regularly followed routes. This is called traplining. Their inquisitive nature will quickly lead them to investigate any possible new source of food.

Hummers, like most birds, have virtually no sense of smell, flowers that attract them tend to have little or no fragrance, apparently directing their resources instead toward high visibility and nectar production.

Some plants to consider that will attract Hummingbirds include:

- Azalea - Butterfly Bush (Buddleia) - Cape Honeysuckle - Manzanita - Mimosa - Red Buckeye - Coral Honeysuckle - Cypress Vine - Morning Glory - Trumpet Creeper - Bee Balm (Monarda) - Cardinal Flower - Columbine - Coral Bells - Four O'Clocks - Hummingbird Mint (Agastache) - Penstemon - Yucca - Fuchsia - Jewelweed - Petunia - Shrimp Plant

Note: none of these need to be red in color although color red is attractive to hummingbirds.

If you’re in doubt as to whether any of these will flourish in your area check with your local nursery.

You should avoid using any pesticides at all in your Hummingbird garden. The insects that you would kill off serve as a good source of protein for hummingbirds, and can also sicken or kill birds if ingested.

Set up Hummingbird Feeders:

If you use a feeder and make your own nectar, a few words of caution.

Feline owners who are renters can face challenges every time they move from one rental to another. Their cat may have best cat litter box habits in world, but if new apartment has cat urine damage from previous tenant, cycle could be repeated. If your kitty smells cat urine from previous pet, she may take this as permission to use that spot for her cat litter box needs.

There are things that you, feline owner and renter can do to prevent this. Not only do you help keep your cat honest in her litter box habits, but this also saves rental residence from further damage.

When applying for new rental property, ask property manager or landlord about previous tenants' pets. If she indicates apartment has sheltered cats, ask if departing resident properly cleaned place to eliminate any cat urine odors. If landlord says no, or isn't certain, ask if you can go into apartment for a quick look.

If you gain access, use best piece of equipment you have: your nose. Stand still inside door, and sniff carefully. If it smells cat urine-free, move through rest of apartment and repeat at intervals. If you smell anything remotely like cat urine odor, look around to see if you can find source. If you can, great - let landlord know. If you can't see it, but you do smell it, tell property manager it needs further investigating before you move in.