First of all, know that not only will you benefit from the ability to watch at these beautiful birds flying around your home, but you’ll also benefit from their pollinating functions.  Hummingbirds are great pollinators and if you have the types of flowers they like, you can have them pollinating them as well as drinking from your little feeder.

There is actually a little bit of history to the hummingbird feeder that is quite interesting.  Laurence Webster has been credited with coming up with the original hummingbird feeder design.  After reading about how these birds could be fed from a National Geographic Magazine, he drew up the plans and had a glassblower make the first one as a gift for his wife.  His story was picked up and photos were taken of hummingbirds using his feeders.  They became a big hit and commercial production of the hummingbird feeder as we mostly know it today was born in 1950.

Hummingbird Feeders Attract Bees, Ants and Other Insects Too

The perch on this hummingbird feeder is a nice resting spot.

Mr. Webster’s design was one of the tubular designs that characterize one of the most popular types today.  The other style of feeder is the bowl or saucer type.  Both work fine in attracting and feeding hummingbirds, but you must pay attention to some elements.  If you would like to keep ants and bees away from your feeder, you’ll need to make sure that they have some specific design elements about them.  In order to maintain a clean, ant-free bowl style, you’ll need to make sure that there is some type of ‘ant moat’.  This is simply a channel by which you can keep them from the sugar water.  The same is true for the bees.  There are some models that are ‘bee proof’.

How do you attract the hummingbirds themselves?  This is a great question.  It is actually quite simple.  These birds are very ‘nosy’, pun intended, and will seek out these feeders in their local environment.  The hummingbird prefers a solution of sugar to water at about a 21-25% solution.  That is to say, they will find that this mix of 1 part sugar to 4 parts water, is similar to the concentration of the nectar that they seek from other native plants.

You can learn online, as we did, that hummingbirds are susceptible to disease and can be harmed by various sugar water preparations.  What you want to avoid is red food coloring and dirty sugar water.  Many people believe that the hummingbirds find your feeder based upon the red color of the water.  This is not the case and there is actually some concern that this food coloring can harm these delicate birds.

Cleaning your feeder is the other concern.  It is recommended that you clean your hummingbird feeder each week with a mild solution of vinegar and water.  Make sure to rinse it thoroughly after cleaning and then you can add your ‘homemade nectar’ mixture.  Based upon how many visitors you get, you will be able to develop an idea as to how much liquid you should add each time to avoid wasting it each week.

Making Nectar For Your Hummingbird Feeder Recipe

It is fairly simple to make.  As mentioned, the mix for best attraction and nourishment of hummingbirds is a solution that is 21-25% sugar to water.  This translates to approximately 1 part sugar to 4 parts water.  There is some concern over how to prepare the solution.  Boiling the water is not necessary, though is likely not going to do any harm.  The idea behind boiling is to kill any microbes that may taint the solution.  However, it is the microbes on the bird’s beaks that carry these microorganisms, not the water itself.  If you have a lot of visitors to your feeder, you will get very good at creating this mix!  Along this line of thinking, you should know that you can keep a premixed solution of your nectar in the refrigerator for up to 2 weeks without spoiling, so you don’t have to make it every other day if you have a busy feeder.

Another concern that people have is in regards to the health of the birds themselves feeding them sugar water.  Some people buy organic sugar and use filtered or distilled, boiled water to create their mix.  These are all very sensitive steps to take to keep your hummingbird friends’ health in mind.  However, this water is really only providing them with quick bursts of energy and fuel.  You see, just like when you give your 4 or 5 year old child sugary sweets, they get a temporary burst, but they require actual food for sustenance.  Hummingbirds need real food sources as well to live.  They do this by eating insects, spiders and other small bugs.  Your homemade nectar is more like a burst from eating some Skittles at the movies.

Attracting Hummingbirds to Your Feeder

We’ve talked about how curious these little guys are, so as long as you have a good mix and a visible feeder, you will get them coming by.  Because they are attracted to red flowers by nature, a red colored feeder with red and yellow flowers is best.  There are a few things to consider about where to locate your feeder for best results.  The main thing is that you want to be able to enjoy seeing these birds humming around your patio and garden areas.  For this reason, keeping it hanging up about 6 – 8’ from the ground will make it easier to find.  Hummingbirds will search lower and in tighter spots, but this is a good rule of thumb.  Also, you’ll want to keep your feeder where you can see it for obvious reasons, but away from close proximity with windows.  If it is too close to your windows, the birds may be injured flying into them while coming towards your feeder.

Because of the territorial nature of hummingbirds, you are in for a real treat when it comes to watching them eat and protect their feeder.  There will be a few that feed off of your feeder, but never together.  Unlike a more traditional bird feeder that has seeds and many different perches, a hummingbird feeder will feed only one at a time.

The design of many hummingbird feeders will allow for several ‘stations’ at once, possibly with a perch surrounding each ‘flower port’, but only one will feed at a time.  You can observe how they will protect this source if another tries to fly up to get a taste.  They will take off in a sort of World War II dog fight in the sky.  So, get yourself a hummingbird feeder and sit back, relax and enjoy the show.

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This downside to building new is more about cost and convenience.  It will take longer and will cost you much more, generally speaking, to build from the ground up or with no existing structure from which to build off from.  But, as mentioned, there are also limitations that come into play from a construction stand point if you have to modify an existing structure to create the new patio design.

There are many covered patio plans available online as well.  You can do a simple search to find pictures and descriptions of some of the more popular options.  You will also quickly find that there are many ways to describe a patio cover, so this may require a bit more homework on your part.

If what you are looking for is truly a covered patio, then you will need to further clarify what type of cover or roof you are looking for.  An open patio roof style can still be considered a “covered patio”, even though the cover will allow you to see the stars through it or have vines growing all over it like is the case with the classic pergola.  A semi-closed or closed patio roof style would be something more along the lines of a gazebo or even an extended patio common with a ranch-style home.  Since you found our site here, let’s discuss what we feel a covered patio to be.

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Covered patios, in our mind, conjure up the image of that old Ranch-style home.  Here, you typically have a single-story layout, with the patio being created by extending the roof line out and often having posts as support.  The floor of the patio area can consist of a variety of materials from concrete to tile to outdoor carpeting.  Many times, these types of patios are finished into additional rooms for the home.  Depending upon how they are positioned, they may be ideally suited as a sunroom or even a modified greenhouse type room for the avid gardener.

Other Covered Patio Designs

Having said this about these types of covered patio plans, it is also quite feasible to be talking about something else when referring to a covered patio.  We would be remiss if we didn’t include the more traditional types of patio covers and patio cover descriptions.  Brief mention was made to them above, but they are the pergola and gazebo.  Variations of these themes could also be included under this larger umbrella category – no pun intended.

Pergolas, because of their flexibility can provide much needed shade and added ambiance and character to your outdoor space.  In fact, more and more outdoor living rooms and spaces take advantage of the pergola’s unique features.  Some of these features include handsome and simple design, lending themselves to a variety of installations and home styles.  Additionally, they can be built to accommodate larger more grand structures or be more simple with craftsmanship details.

Pergolas, more than gazebos, can be finished in a variety of ways.  Finished, in this case, is referring to the type of patio roof that you may choose to have.  Classic pergolas have a post and beam design.  More contemporary styles have a roof more typical of a Mediterranean cabana or villa.  In these cases, they could be tiled.  In other instances, a metal patio cover is called for in the design phase.  These can be made of metals such as steel and copper.  Metal roof materials come in a variety of applications including sheeting, “standing seam” and even tiles or shingles.

Some other possible places to check for ideas other than where you are right now in front of your keyboard would include fine home magazines and trade journals.  Occasionally, taking one of those home tours in your areas where designer homes are showcased can give you some ideas regarding your patio.  You can also see samples or portfolios from contractors that you may contact to see what type of experience and ideas they may have.  What ever your covered patio plans call for, there is a design style that can suit your needs.

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Now, what about for that backyard patio party?  What are you doing there to make a bigger impact and remodel to allow for more functional space and a better entertaining area?  The choice many people make first is to get some type of patio cover.  If you don’t have much experience with these, then getting some patio cover ideas will be in order.  These ideas could come from several different sources, online is the first and most simple way to come about doing your search.  In fact, it is likely how you found our site.  There are pictures online to browse, fine home magazines you can look through or you can even have an architect and designer sketch some patio cover plans for you to look at.  You will obviously pay for the professional help, but it will be well worth it in the end, because they will be able to match your landscape features and home design to that of your new patio cover – what ever style that happens to be.

This is a great example of a pergola. This is a great patio cover idea for hot tubs and spas.

As a brief introduction or outline if you aren’t familiar, there are a few patio covers that stand out as the most common and simple to build.  It doesn’t mean that they are not very handsome and elegant features to add to your space, quite the contrary.  Often, the simplest designs allow for the beauty of the landscape and other backyard features to come forth.  The pergola is likely the most common type of free standing patio cover.  There are other styles, including the gazebo and attached pergola.  The attached version simply has a header beam mounted to the wall of your home and may extend out the roof line a bit to ‘form’ a little patio area.

The pergola and gazebo have some similar features in that they are both usually constructed of wood and are meant to provide an intimate area to relax or entertain.  The pergola is a bit more of an open structure, with a ‘ribbed’ roof that can support a variety of roofs or climbing vines and plants.  Patio roofs could include a metal roof like a folded seam steel or even a nice copper.  Additionally, the roof of your covered patio could be made of a stone product like a Mediterranean tile or cement tile.  The gazebo is more of a semi-closed structure with a wooden roof and some railings, often with built-in bench seating.  Gazebos usually have a bit more in the way of detailing where a pergola has more craftsman styling and simple lines.  Your patio cover ideas should include what type of theme you would like your space to have.  This will greatly help determine what materials will be used and what type of structure you will have built.

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The key to the whole party planning thing is having timelines and project to-dos.  That way, you can just look up on your calendar and see what needs to be done that day to ultimately be ready for the big day.  Plus, there is always some cleaning and preparation of your space to be done.  This is where we can talk about how your patio covers vine covered seating area will be the talk of the party.  But, not now, we’ll get to that.  First things first, we have to decide who is coming to the party.  This is among the first steps. You’ll need to come up with a guest list.  This helps to not only get a head count, but also to plan for special seating or food choices.  Hey, who knows, maybe even additional wine, beer or other spirits planning as well depending on the type of crowd you hang around with.  This can all be done about two weeks ahead of the party date.

Your Patio Cover Will Come Into Play, Just Wait

At the one to two week mark, you’ll want to start thinking about hardware.  In other words, do the grills or other appliances work, or do they need some repairs?  Do you need to buy charcoal or gas?  Are all the tablecloths where you think they are?  Have you got the plates and any special order food items taken care of?  This is where you can also do a first stage of cleaning of your patio.  You can start high and work your way down – just like a window washer.  This could mean knocking down any cobwebs that have found their way into or around your patio cover.  Maybe your hanging pergola vine garden is in need of some trimming.  This would be a good time to fix and broken bricks or misplaced pavers and such.  You can also ensure that all your outdoor lighting is working properly.  Check to see if your garden lights or strung patio lights all work.

At about the two to three day mark, you can start shopping for your everything but the perishable food items.  Make sure you know what food you’ll be cooking and when to avoid the frantic serving at the last minute to starving guests phenomenon.  You can clean your grill (again) if you haven’t done this step.  Finish the lighting do another cleaning of your outdoor patio furniture.  Get those patio furniture covers off and make sure the chair cushions are in good shape.  You probably could have done this at the week ago mark.  In any event, do another sweeping of your covered patio and you can hose down any areas that are particularly dusty.

One More Day and the Patio Covers Ultimate Purpose Will Be Revealed

Finally, your guests can enjoy your patio covers presence.

You’re almost there!  On the day just before your big party arrange the furniture and pick up any items that you are borrowing or buying as far as seating, tables, umbrellas, patio heaters and lighting goes.  This is when you can shop for the perishable items that you want to be as fresh and crispy as possible for your guests.  You’ll probably want to do another re-cleaning of your house and the patio area.  It might just require some quick spot or attention cleaning.

After you (or a teenage child) gets the cleaning done, you can prepare as many of your recipes and ingredients as possible.  Thaw what needs to be thawed in the refrigerator.  On the morning of the party, buy the ice, fill the coolers, decorate the tables and lay the table cloths.  Prepare your foods as you have scheduled and make sure your patio is not going to be too hot or wet from your sprinklers turning on in the middle of the whole thing.  You can invest in some patio shades for the areas that your patio cover just doesn’t help you with for shade.  Just before guests begin arriving, you can turn on the music (if you haven’t already been jamming this morning in excitement), set the lighting and get the appropriate drinks open.  Now, sit back relax and enjoy the party with the rest of your guests out on your patio.  You can take the time to enjoy all the hard work and planning that went into your party as well as your patio cover designs that helped create this wonderful setting.

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