How to Attract Pollinating Bees, Hummingbirds and Butterflies to Your Yard

Learn how to attract bees, hummingbirds, and butterflies to your landscaping with nectar-rich plants.

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I love watching bees buzzing around from flower to flower and trying to figure out how butterflies can fly with those delicate tissue-thin wings. Nature at its finest for sure. It’s so easy to attract pollinating insects, such as bees, hummingbirds, and butterflies to come to our gardens to help our plants reproduce. Here are a few steps to follow.

How to Attract Pollinating Bees, Hummingbirds and Butterflies to Your Yard

I love watching bees buzzing around from flower to flower and trying to figure out how butterflies can fly with those delicate tissue-thin wings. Nature at its finest for sure. It’s so easy to attract pollinating insects, such as bees, hummingbirds, and butterflies to come to our gardens to help our plants reproduce. Here are a few steps to follow.

Plant Nectar Rich Flowers

This is so easy to do, but the most important way to attract pollinating insects to your garden is by using nectar-rich flowers. I go to my local garden center and look for Monrovia flowering plants which are always colorful and healthy for my garden, landscaping, and containers. Having strong healthy plants to start out with will help them adjust to their new surroundings.

How to Attract Pollinating Bees, Hummingbirds and Butterflies to Your Yard

What plants should you use? Check to see what butterflies are local to your area and then see what plants they prefer. Butterflies are attracted by sweet, pungent-smelling flowers that are orange, yellow, pink, purple, and red. The deep-throated flowers are great for hummingbirds, such as petunias, sage, and verbena. My favs to plant to attract butterflies are pentas, porterweed, salvia, lantana, and purple coneflowers. Try planting plants that flower at different times of the season. This will ensure your nectar-loving insects will have food at all times.

How to Attract Pollinating Bees, Hummingbirds and Butterflies to Your Yard

You can plant a few plants in several different areas in your landscaping. I have them in large containers positioned several places around my home since I don’t have a large yard.  For those of you who live in apartments, pots are a perfect solution to enjoy butterflies in your area. I have an area that doesn’t receive much water from the sprinkler system, so I planted lantana, plumbago, and milkweed there. The pop of color there is just beautiful and a constant swarm of butterflies and bees.

Plant Food and Water

When butterflies lay their eggs, they look for host plants their larvae will enjoy eating once they hatch. Depending on the species, you will need to check to see what your area host plants are. Monarchs love milkweed which is really easy to grow. I usually put it in the back of my other flowers since there is usually nothing left after the caterpillars make a meal out it. Other great plant choices are certain herbs, such as fennel, parsley, and dill.

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I provide a butterfly feeder that holds sugar water for them to drink. The plastic pot scrubber (picture above) gives them something to perch on while drinking or you can also use a small sponge or small stones. I’ve also put half an orange or old banana peel in there. They also love muddy puddles.

How to Attract Pollinating Bees, Hummingbirds and Butterflies to Your Yard

A perennial version of Angelonia, also known as Summer Snapdragon and loves heat. Blooms spring through fall.

Provide Shelter

Butterflies need to warm up their wings on days that are cool and they love the sun. You will often see them on a flower with their wings stretched out soaking up the warmth. Bushes and trees make great shelter for them to use to perch on.  Butterfly Bush is a perfect example. Depending on the variety, it’s nectar-rich and a great place to rest in. Bushes also provide shelter for the cocoons and larva.

How to Attract Pollinating Bees, Hummingbirds and Butterflies to Your Yard
Go Organic

NEVER use pesticides around your nectar-rich flowers and plants.  One of the reasons why our bee population has gone down in the past years. I use organic flower food granules around my plants and can be found virtually anywhere now. The more flower heads, the more butterflies, bees, and hummingbirds will stop by.

How to Attract Pollinating Bees, Hummingbirds and Butterflies to Your Yard
Encourage Neighbors to Plant Flowers

The more nectar-rich flowers and plants that are around, the more butterflies, hummingbirds, and bees will come by and enjoy. You could offer them some starter plants or bring them by a plant for the new neighbor in town.  The perfect time to offer your expertise on what species are in your area. Also, encourage your neighbors to not use pesticides on their flowers.

How to Attract Pollinating Bees, Hummingbirds and Butterflies to Your Yard

By keeping the nectar flowing in your area, the insects will survive and help keep our food supply alive for years to come.

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Learn how to attract bees, hummingbirds and butterflies to your landscaping with nectar rich plants from Monrovia.

Learn more about Monrovia plants and where you can purchase your “Pop of Color” for your yard at your local garden center. You can also watch this video on how to Plant a Butterfly and Hummingbird Wildflower Garden. Sign up for their newsletter with updates of the latest plants available.

If you have any garden questions or have found a great new plant to grow, let us know about it. Gardening is learning from others and sharing new ideas really helps me with future posts to pass along to you.

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34 Comments

  1. I love that you attract these creatures into your garden. I wish I had a garden to do the same! Love your photos

  2. It would be nice to see butterflies and hummingbirds in the garden! These are great tips and I’m definitely going to take not of them. Thank you.

    1. HI Fatima, It really does help and when I’m out working near them, they never bother me. They are too busy doing their work. Thanks for stopping by.

  3. I love and needed this! I was wondering what beautiful flowers would attract humming birds and butterflies. It would be awesome to see them pop up in the yard during the spring and summer.

  4. I am hoping to have a flower garden this year. I am going to try your tips and get tons of wildlife to my garden.

    1. HI Jay, If you can find pentas in your area, its a great choice for attracting butterflies and hummers. Thanks for stopping by

  5. We have many of these things surrounding our home here in SC and we get plenty of hummingbird visitors. There’s nothing better than sitting on the porch drinking a cup of coffee and having one of these little visitors come exploring.

    1. HI Richard. We don’t get that many hummers in our area because we are the stopping point during their migration. There are a few that stay around all year. They just amaze me.

  6. These are such great tips! I’ve seen a few hummingbirds in my yard before and they are so beautiful!

  7. We are just starting to plan our garden this year, and this is really helpful. I would love to have more butterflies and hummingbirds in our yard, and I didn’t realize there was so much you could do to attract them. I will definitely have to start with planting some milkweed.

  8. I can’t wait to start planting pretty flowers around the house again. My husband’s yearly task is to prepare the front and backyard and he’s really making headway. I am excited to see blooms again. Thanks for your suggestions. I hope to see more butterflies and hummingbirds in my yard soon.

  9. That wa

    That is smart to pick flowers that bloom at different times of the year. It’s been a while since we had a garden, I miss it

  10. Honey bees are so important , I am worries about how the numbers are dwindling. So happy this article helps to promotes how to care for them, or attract them. I have a few humming birds as well…. great information.

  11. We are just getting ready to plant our garden. I love having butterflies and hummingbirds around, so I will look at the flowers that attract them. We already have a few geraniums and I love them!

  12. Very informative post! My friend is always doing her garden up and planting different things so ill show this to her as she will find this useful

  13. How beautiful is a home surrounded by life and color! Of course in an organic way it is so much better and oh boy imagine all the neighbours with the same idea!

  14. Those insects are friendly in the garden. They help in the reproduction and production of new species of flowers and plants. I love seeing butterflies in the garden, they are like little fairies.

  15. Thank you for sharing these tips. I have always wanted to get more wildlife to come to our yards to enjoy looking at.

    1. Actually any plant will work for bees since they always go back to their hives after they fill up on nectar. Thanks for stopping by Aurora

  16. What a good tips, I have small garden and I would love to apply this tips glad you share this with us.

  17. I love this very informative post, I have a small garden and planning to plant a flower. I wish I can grow flower on my small garden

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