Plants & Flowers That Attract Butterflies & Hummingbirds

Eastern Red Columbine

• The distinctive, bright red and yellow flowers with spurs sticking into the air draw hummingbirds to feast on the nectar inside them. Clusters of flowers bloom from February to July on the multstemmed perennial. Eastern red columbine can reach a height of 2 feet and measure 1 foot wide. The three-lobed leaflets are 4 to 6 inches wide, inviting the columbine duskywing butterfly to lay eggs on the foliage. The plant prefers full sun to partial shade in acidic, well-drained, dry-to-damp soil. Red columbine is grown in U.S. Department of Agriculture Plant Hardiness Zones 3 to 8 and is tolerant of cold, heat and drought.

Butterfly Bush

• Despite the shrub's name, it's not just a butterfly magnet; hummingbirds visit the bush to sip on the nectar too. The butterfly bush can reach a height of 8 feet in the South and 5 feet in the North. A variety with branches like a weeping willow can reach up to 12 feet, with a spread of up to 15 feet. Hardy in USDA Plant Hardiness Zones 5 to 10, butterfly bush is fast-growing, able to tolerate the high humidity of the South, heat and drought. It dies back to the ground in USDA Plant Hardiness Zones 5 and 6 during the winter, but re-emerges quickly in spring. Butterfly bush blooms with dense clusters of red-lavender, purple, red, light-blue, pink or white flowers from July to August in full sun areas of the landscape with well-drained soil. Butterflies that visit the shrub include the snout butterfly, painted lady and red admiral.

Trumpet Creeper

• Large amounts of nectar and brightly colored trumpet-shaped flowers attract butterflies and hummingbirds from June to September. The 3-1/2 inch long flowers are orange, yellow-orange, red or red-orange, blooming in clusters at the branch tips. A dense growth of dark-green foliage serves as a backdrop for the flowers. Give trumpet creeper room to grow, as it reaches heights of 35 feet. It tolerates adverse weather, such as cold, drought and heat in USDA Plant Hardiness Zones 6 to 10. Trumpet creeper vines prefer full sun and fertile, moist, well-drained soil.

Quaking Aspen

• The attraction of quaking aspen for butterflies and hummingbirds is its foliage. The shiny, small, green leaves create cover for the broad-tailed hummingbird to build nests for their young and give butterflies, such as the striped hairstreak and red-spotted mourning cloak, a place to lay their eggs. The foliage turns gold, red, yellow or yellow-orange in the fall in USDA Plant Hardiness Zones 3 to 7. Quaking aspen reaches heights of 35 to 50 feet with a long trunk and smooth, gray-white to white-green bark that becomes thicker with age. It blooms with silvery catkins from May to June in the Western United States and March to April in the East. Aspens are hardy trees, able to grow in any type of soil, including rocky or shallow, in full sun to full shade and can tolerate cold weather.