Attracting Hummingbirds & Butterflies

If you are planning a new garden with lots of flowering plant material, why not include plants that will attract one of nature’s smallest miracles; the Ruby-Throated Hummingbird or a beautiful butterfly?

Attracting Hummingbirds & Butterflies

Attracting Hummingbirds

  • A hummingbird’s main source of food is nectar. They will be attracted to any coloured flower that holds nectar.
  • Their first choice is to fly to red, pink, orange, and purple flowers that have tubular, funnel, or bell-shaped blossoms.
  • Hummingbirds also consume aphids, spiders, and other small insects.
  • Encourage Hummingbird to visit your property by:
  • 1. Planting flowering material that will provide nectar from spring through fall.
  • 2. Provide fresh water in a birdbath if you don’t already have a water feature.
  • Spring-blooming plants that Hummingbirds are fond of are: Fruit Trees, Horse-chestnut, Crab Apple, Lilac, Flowering Quince, Azaleas, Weigela, Columbine, and Foxglove.
  • In summer, plant Annual Fuchsia, Salvia, Nasturtium, Morning Glory, Petunia, Snapdragon, Cleome, and Zinnia.
  • Perennials that attract hummingbirds include Penstemon, Bee Balm, Phlox, Bell Flower, Red-Hot Poker Plant, Cardinal Flower, Hollyhock, Lavender, and Liatris.
  • Vines include Honeysuckle and Trumpet Vine.
  • In late summer, Hummingbirds enjoy Butterflybush, Rose-of-Sharon, and Gladioli.
     

Hummingbird Feeders

  • Place Hummingbird feeders near the flowers you wish to attract them to and near windows where you can watch these little birds close up.
  • Buy Hummingbird food for your feeder that you mix with water or you can prepare your own. Mix 4 parts water and 1 part white sugar, boil for 2 minutes, and cool. Refrigerate whatever you don’t immediately use.
  • Clean your feeder thoroughly every 2 to 3 days in hot weather and refill with fresh sugar water. The build-up of bacteria can be detrimental to Hummingbirds.
  • Avoid honey or artificial sweeteners. These will cause a fungus to form on the Hummingbird’s tongue.
     

Attracting Butterflies

  • Butterflies use the plants in your garden as a food source, to lay their eggs, food for the larvae and pupating.
  • Plant a variety of flowering plant material that Butterflies are attracted to for three of the four seasons.
  • Butterflies are attracted to the scents of certain garden plants rather than the flower colour and shape.
  • Some crossover plants that will bring both Butterflies and Hummingbirds are Lilac, Rose-of-Sharon, Butterflybush, Bee Balm, Lavender, Liatris, Cardinal Flower, and Annual Nicotiana.
  • In spring, Butterflies will visit gardens with Perennial Candytuft, Primula, Wall Cress, Soapwort, and Shrubs such as Bridalwreath Spirea and fragrant varieties of Viburnum.
  • Summer offers Annual Heliotrope, Alyssum, Cosmos, Lantana, as well as Perennial Shasta Daisy, Helen’s Flower, Coneflower, Pincushion Flower, Daylily, Tickseed, Black-eyed Susan, and Butterfly Weed.
  • Shrubs like Summersweet, Caryopteris, and Potentilla are also favourite summer destinations.
  • For fall, Butterflies will be encouraged to linger before their long migration with Chrysanthemums, Sedums, and Asters.