Dear members I don't understand why plants--and their pollenators--evolve the way they do. I'll continue this thread for that reason--perhaps someone else knows more than I do. After Butterfly Bush and Crocosmia Lucifer, a favorite plant is Fuchsia magellanica, in fact those are three plants to be recommended. Other fuchsias get much less or almost no hummingbird visits, even though I selected them with hummingbirds in mind. Solid red or near red flowers, even those of the triphylla section with tubular, red or near red flowers, simply are less attractive than F. magellanica. Plants of F. magellanica in areas where they get little or no summer water are at least as attractive as those that get regular water. In my ignorance I assumed that to a hummingbird larger flowers would mean more nectar, and tubular flowers would signal less competition for what nectar there is. That doesn't appear to be so, so what is the attraction of Fuchsia magellanica over its' hybrids? (Most fuchsia hybrids have F. m. in the ancestry somewhere). Color and form do not appear to be the only attractant to humingbirds, and presumably to other pollenators. Butterfly Bush flowers are individually tiny, so size isn't everything either. Ken