Attract Butterflies and Hummingbirds to Your Yard

Who doesn’t appreciate the fluttering and beautiful colors of butterflies and hummingbirds in our gardens? But it is clear that these beautiful animals no longer frequent our yards as assiduously as they once did… largely because of the lifestyle of their owners. Indeed, this love of the “lawn as far as the eye can see”, still so dominant on our plots of land, leaves them no room… but fortunately, it is possible to turn the tide and invite them back into our homes.

Butterflies and Hummingbirds, Same Source of Energy

The first thing to note is that butterflies and hummingbirds, even if they are not related, depend directly on the same source of energy for their survival: the nectar of flowers. The hummingbird, with its long beak, can search deep inside flowers to obtain its portion of sweet liquid, while butterflies have a long proboscis, which is rolled up when they are in flight but which extends to allow them to search through the nectar reserves of flowers when they land. Both therefore depend specifically on flowers, but which ones?

Hummingbird Preferences

Double flowers, those mutations that are considered so attractive by humans, leave them indifferent. They prefer simple flowers.

Hummingbirds prefer red or orange tubular flowers, but they don’t mind tubular flowers of other colors either. Among their favorites are cardinal flower, bee balm, climbing honeysuckle and coral bells. You can also provide artificial nectar in hummingbird feeders, which are readily available on the market. Put them out early, from mid-May. Also, hummingbirds nest in small trees or large shrubs and will frequent more heavily wooded areas.

Also, if you want to attract the hummingbird to your home, keep your cat indoors or tie it up away from the flowerbeds. Hummingbirds have a long memory and will avoid areas where felines prowl.

Butterflies’ Preferences

Butterflies, on the other hand, prefer abundantly flowering flowerbeds with a mixture of annuals, perennials and other flowers. Their favorite flowers are composites, such as daisies and asters. These flowers offer them a landing strip (the rays of the inflorescence) and a multitude of small florets full of nectar (the central dome). They are also attracted to the clustered flowers of other families: milkweed, umbellifers, etc.

The problem with butterflies, which we consider so pretty and harmless, is that they come from caterpillars that are much less pretty and more destructive. What’s the point of trying to attract butterflies if you spray or crush their larvae? A little tolerance is therefore vital. If you see colorful caterpillars on your milkweed, for example, leave them be. They are the butterflies of the famous monarch. The larvae of the superb celery hawk-moth prefer umbellifers (carrots, parsley, celery, etc.). Several butterflies feed only on plants that we refer to as “weeds”. If you can, leave a patch of uncultivated land where these less desirable plants could grow with impunity.

Suitable Surroundings

Finally, of course, you have to abandon all synthetic pesticides when you want to attract butterflies to your home, and even use organic pesticides with the utmost caution.

Create a suitable environment for hummingbirds and butterflies, and encourage your neighbors to do the same, and they will start to frequent your neighborhood again, to everyone’s great pleasure!

Flowers to Attract Hummingbirds

1. Bee balm (Monarda spp.) – Zone 3
2. Cardinal flower (Lobelia cardinalis) – Zones 2 to 7
3. Climbing honeysuckle (Lonicera spp.) – Zones 3 to 6
4. Columbine (Aquilegia spp.) – Zone 3
5. Coral bells (Heuchera spp.) – Zones 3 to 9
6. Creeping dogwood (Cornus canadensis) – Zone 2
7. Cuphea (Cuphea spp.) – Annual
8. Larkspur (Delphinium spp.) – Annual or Zone 3
9. Montbretia (Crocosmia spp.) – Zone 6
10. Rhododendron (Rhododendron spp.) – Zones 2 to 10
11. Trumpet vine (Campsis radicans) – Zones 4 to 6
12. Zinnia (Zinnia spp.) – Annual

Flowers to Attract Butterflies

1. Angelica (Angelica spp.) – Zone 4-5
2. Aster (Aster spp.) – Zone 3-4 (depending on the species)
3. Bee balm (Monarda spp.) – Zone 3-4
4. Black-eyed-susan (Rudbeckia spp.) – Zone 3-5 (depending on the species)
5. Blazing star (Liatris spp.) – Zone 3-4
6. Boneset (Eupatorium spp.) – Zone 3-4
7. Calliopsis (Coreopsis spp.) – Zone 4-5 (depending on the species)
8. Dahlia (Dahlia x hybrida) – Non-hardy (zone 8-9, tubers to be overwintered)
9. Globe thistles (Echinops spp.) – Zone 3-4
10. Golden marguerite (Anthemis tinctoria) – Zone 4
11. Goldenrod (Solidago spp.) – Zone 3-4
12. Knapweed (Centaurea spp.) – Zone 3-4
13. Masterwort (Astrantia spp.) – Zone 4
14. Ninebark (Physocarpus opulifolius) – Zone 2-3
15. Pearly everlasting (Anaphalis margaritacea) – Zone 3
16. Purple coneflower (Echinacea purpurea and hybrids) – Zone 3-4
17. Purpletop vervainn (Verbena bonariensis) – Annual (perennial in zones 7-8)
18. Scabiosa (Scabiosa spp.) – Zone 4-5
19. Shrubby cinquefoil (Dasiphora fruticosa syn. Potentilla fruticosa) – Zone 2-3
20. Sneezeweed (Helenium spp.) – Zone 4-5
21. Stonecrop (Sedum spp.) – Zone 3-4
22. Yarrow (Achillea spp.) – Zone 3-4
23. Zinnia (Zinnia spp.) – Annual

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Larry Hodgson published thousands of articles and 65 books in his career, in French and English. His son, Mathieu, has made it his mission to make his father’s writings accessible to the public. This text was originally published in Le Soleil.