Pollinators provide valuable services to sustain our ecosystem and we’re celebrating National Pollinator Month with some ideas on how you can help them right from your own backyard!
No matter how much space you have, anyone can plant a butterfly garden. Butterfly gardens help all pollinators, including bees and hummingbirds who often share the same nectar and use the same habitat.
When you create a habitat for butterflies in your garden, you not only invite beautiful winged visitors to your yard, but you are also feeding, protecting and ultimately helping to sustain the valuable ecosystem services provided by the work of pollinators – bees, birds, butterflies, bats, and beetles.
Whether you are planning a large plot of land dedicated to your butterfly garden or plan to do your part with a simple container garden, you can plant flowers that will feed and provide shelter for pollinators.
Top Picks for Pollinator Gardens
Here’s a list of my Top Picks for creating a perfect mass planting that will attract butterflies, bees and hummingbirds with a diverse mix of nectar-rich flowers in pollinator preferred colors, to also include some with easily accessible trumpet-like blooms.
Click any of the plant photos to add to your personal wishlist on our Plant Finder tool!
Summer Pastels Yarrow
Millenium Ornamental Onion
Swamp Milkweed
Guardian Blue Larkspur
Moonbeam Tickseed
Magnus Coneflower
Happy Returns Daylily
Brilliant Maiden Pinks
Jacob Cline Beebalm
Walker's Low Catmint
Prairie Dusk Beard Tongue
May Night Sage
Snowcap Shasta Daisy
Red Flame Garden Phlox
Cherry Tart Stonecrop
Very Van Gogh Speedwell
The plants shown in our Top Picks list reflect specific varieties, but depending on which types of pollinators you want to attract, almost any variety of these plant species will do.
- Butterflies are most attracted to reds and purple flowers with mild fragrance.
- Hummingbirds are most attracted to red, orange or white flowers in a cup or funnel shape, with little to no scent.
- Bees prefer bright white, yellow or blue flowers with shallow or tubular blossoms and a mild scent.
Get Our Butterfly Garden Plan!
Our Butterfly Garden Plan shows you how to plot out and space your plantings like a pro, by height and color for maximum impact! It also includes plant suggestions for small spaces with a pollinator container garden.
Pollinator Plant Search
Use our Plant Finder to create your Wish List with those plants you want to consider for your pollinator garden. Bring your Wish List to Studley’s and let our expert staff help to choose the specific varieties that will be best for your planting area and overall garden design.
For more plant ideas to attract wildlife, you can now use our Advanced Search on Plant Finder to check our inventory for additional options including butterflies, bees, birds and hummingbirds!
For more advice on pollinator gardens, also see our article, All Abuzz About The Perennial Pollinator Garden.
My Pro Tip
Pollinate! Share your passion for gardening with a child or bring it to a nursing home. Children learn from the cycle of life that occurs in the garden and pollinators have the sort of appeal to get kids outdoors, with promises of creepy crawlies or pretty winged things! The same goes for our senior population – fresh air, sunshine, light work in the garden or simply watching visitors to the garden will bring joy to residents at your local nursing home. If you would like to have a garden, but have no space of your own, your local senior center or school just might welcome a volunteer gardener!
See you at Studley’s!
