Trying to select butterfly plants? Want plants to attract hummingbirds, bees and butterflies?
Hummingbird and Salvia greggii
Gregg’s mistflower and Queen Butterfly
Maybe you like watching the hummingbirds on the feeder. Perhaps you have a garden and want to attract bees to pollinate your veggies. Are you a butterfly watcher? Whatever the reason, there are lots of plants you can plant that will not only attract all pollinators to your garden, but will subsequently beautify your yard.
Vivero Growers Nursery carries a wide range of pollinator-friendly plants that attract the butterflies, hummingbirds and bees. There are a wide range of colors, textures, sizes and foliage to choose from when creating your space.
If you are looking for some options and ideas here are a few of our favorites:
Monarch butterfly and Lantana
Lantana is an all time favorite for most any pollinator garden. When people think butterfly plants, they think Lantana. It not only attracts them to your yard, it adds color to your landscape. It is easily paired with other perennials, grasses and yuccas to create layering effects and likewise will create depth.
Plumbago is a excellent choice especially if you have an area that is a little on the shady side. The Swallowtail seem to flock to this plant, though you will see all kinds of other butterflies, Hummingbird Moths and bees on it as well. The wonderful thing about the Plumbago is it is easily sheared and blooms spring thru fall.
Salvia greggii is available in a wide range of colors and is a semi-evergreen option. Most all of the greggii will stay around 3′ x 3′ and bloom spring thru the first frost. The tubular blooms are definite favorites of the hummingbirds. Similarly the bees and butterflies gravitate towards the Salvia blooms. The Salvia greggii is probably the #2 when it comes to favorite butterfly plants.
- Almond Verbena is a popular choice for butterfly gardens. This shrub produces fragrant flowers that bloom late spring thru the fall. The butterflies and bees are a frequent visitor to this shrub.
Texas native Rock Rose
- Rock Rose, Pavonia, is a favorite of both the bees and the butterflies and believe it or not the hummingbirds as well. This Texas native perennial has a wonderful bright pink bloom that resembles a Hibiscus. It is a shorter shrub that can grow about 3-4′ which makes it nice for middle layering in the landscape. The Rock Rose does well in Austin, Texas and the hill country area and takes the heat of the summer as well as our wacky winters. It looks fantastic planted alongside grasses, Yuccas as well as other flowering perennials.
- Passion Vine is a host plant for the Gulf Fritillary Butterfly. They are available in a variety of colors, purple and white are the most common. Do not worry if you walk out one day and all your leaves on your vine are gone- if you get a closer look, you will see lots of caterpillars. After that, will have lots of beautiful butterflies in your garden and landscape and your leaves will reappear.
Antelope Milkweed and Gray Hairstreak Butterfly
- There are host plants you can plant that specific butterflies prefer. For example, the above mentioned Passion Vine is a host plant for the Gulf Fritillary and the Texas native Antelope Milkweed for the Monarchs and the Queen Butterflies.
Texas butterfly gardens have become very popular lately and it’s not hard to understand why.
There are so many beautiful butterflies in the Austin, Texas area. For example a few that we see most frequently: the Monarch, the Sulpur, Swallowtail Butterfly both black and yellow, Red Admiral and Skippers. Have you seen the Queen butterfly and the Gulf Fritillary? Sometimes people confuse them with the Monarch. All are beautiful. The Gray Hairstreak are tiny and so fast! The Common Buckeye is interesting- it appears to have eyes on it’s wings! The Question Mark Butterfly is another unique one.
Above all, we are so lucky that we attract so many varieties of butterflies. It’s wonderful!
Bees are easy, that is to say they seem to be attracted to most all of the flowers that the butterflies like. On our Instagram page we have several videos and photos of pollinators and flowers for example one of a bee on the Mystic Spires. The hummingbirds love the blooms of the Salvia. Hummingbirds are not too picky about the Salvia they seem to like them all for instance the greggii, the Mystic Spires, the Mexican Bush Sage, and of course the Salvia ‘Amistad’.
Fall Aster and Checkered White Butterfly
Here at Vivero Growers Nursery, we grow several of the Texas native plants to attract the butterflies, bees and hummingbirds. The Gregg’s mistflower, the Salvia coccinea, and the Salvia greggii are probably the top three plants that all three like. There are also seasonally blooming Texas native favorites like the Fall Aster.
If you are creating a butterfly garden or just trying to add more butterfly plants to attract more pollinators to your yard, stop in and ask us to show you our favorites. Chances are you will see the butterflies bees and hummingbirds flying around and will see for yourself what they like!
