I am thinking of planting a Campsis vine but would prefer a white-flowered variety to a red or yellow one. Do you know if even the white flowers attract hummingbirds? How about yellow? I'd go for red if necessary but it's not my favourite choice for the arbour I have in mind.
Not sure about Campsis, but hummingbirds liked my cream coloured honeysuckle and they feed on blackberry flowers. They do seem very attracted to red flowers but do feed on other coloured flowers. I recently watched a show about hummers and it said that bees do not see red. Hummingbirds will not risk getting stung and will defer to bees. So if red flowers attract less bees, maybe it's easier to feed from them. I think, like all things in nature, it's a bit more complicated than that.
We have a honeysuckle growing on our arbor and it's a favourite of the Anna's Hummingbirds....I've also seen them on Hosta flowers and they're crazy about the Crocosmia 'Lucifer' we have in abundance...
Here's an article (with a commercial connection) that came to a similar conclusion based on their field-testing: Hummingbird Color Preferences.
