Do you plant flowers or attractants?

[krismoriah72]

I like to attract butterflies, bees and hummingbirds on my farm and have planted a few things over the years.

I have narrowed down for the most part what seems to work the best for me..but open to suggestions.

Butterfly bushes- I have 3 different colors all seem to make the butterflies happy.

Orange Jewelweed- This grows natrually all along my creekbanks and my decks- the hummingbirds really tear these up.

Mexican Sunflower- This will be my third year of planting these- the butterflies bumblebees and honeybees absolutely love these. If i could have just one attractant this would be the one.

Calibrachoa (million bells)- I accidently found that the hummingbirds absolutely love these flowers. I got a small plant that was almost dead at a Lowes clearance and it thrived in a large pot on my deck. I cant find seeds for these so I guess i will have to buy the live plants. A snowberry clearwing (hummingbird moth) showed up last year and really enjoyed these.

Sunflowers- I planted a decent row of sunflowers from my black oil sunflower bird seed just to see what would happen- The bumblebees and honeybees seem to live and sleep in the heads.


I am going to plant a few Trumpet Vines this year on a pallet trellis to see what happens. I know they are invasive but i have a good spot for them. I have heard that the hummingbirds love these.

I am in West Virginia so i only have 6 or so good months of flowering.

 

[Kestas]

Consider canna in your garden. They attract butterflies. The only downside is the rhizomes don't overwinter well and need to be dug up and put in a root cellar before winter freezes the soil.

 

[4WD]

We had quite a few things that did … but looking like 2/3 were killed in the freeze …

 

[zzyzzx]

Do you plant flowers or attractants?

No.

 

[Claud]

Honeysuckle works well over here.
Not using chemical pesticides is a great help too.

Claud.

 

[SHOZ]

I grow some Autumn Joy Sedum. Very easy to grow perennial and propagate. But it flowers in late summer and the bees will cover it. I've seen at least 8 different bees wasp feeding on it.

The various lilies are also great attractors for humming birds. As is trumpet vine, but beware it spread all over.

And I have a Milkweed patch for the Monarch butterflies.

 

[Kestas]

I too caution against trumpetvine. I've been trying to eradicate it from my backyard for the past 20 years. It's growing into my existing bushes and it will not go away.

 

[xxch4osxx]

Originally Posted By: zzyzzx
Do you plant flowers or attractants?

No.
Me either. Got enough to do without planting stuff lol.

 

[gman2304]

My wife has a butterfly garden. She has Cannas, Salvia, Hibiscus ( in containers), Cone flowers, Mexican Petunia ( invasive ) and several medium sized river rocks for the butterflies to sun on. She also has a Butterfly box. The Hummingbirds love this setup as well.

 

[aquariuscsm]

How about some Kudzu?