Butterfly Nectar Sources

Producing large, often branched, clusters of large pink tubular flowers in summer atop sturdy 4-7' high stems with narrow medium green foliage. Adored by Hummingbirds and other long-tonged pollinators. Finger False Dragonhead is a rare species that seems quite happy in average garden settings where it readily multiplies by rhizomes. This is evident by the host of new rosettes that emerge in winter for spring's flowers. Item# 10238.

Large whorled clusters of deep red tubular flowers with some pink undertones are held atop sturdy 2-3' high stems and are produced over a long period in summer drawing hummingbirds for miles around, Sulphur butterflies, and may stop nearby traffic. Fire Marshall Monarda is the result of a cross between what are considered two of the best Monardas, Jacob Cline and Marshall's Delight, made by Dr. Jim Ault of Chicago Botanic Gardens and Chicagoland Grows®, Inc. and the resulting hybrid has a midsized habit with disease resistant rich green foliage. This is a clump forming slowly spreading winter deciduous herbaceous perennial that will perform best in a moist to average moist, fertile soil in a full to mostly sunny site. Images courtesy of Dr. Jim Ault, Chicagoland Grows®, Inc., all rights reserved. Item# 12316

Spike-like clusters of deep red ball-shaped buds uncurl into fiery red and red-orange hooked flowers that are produced throughout the warmer months of the year to potentially year-round on mature plants all the while attracting hordes of hummingbirds and some larger bees. Fire Sprite Grevillea is a vigorous, naturally evergreen, subtropical shrub with deeply cut, rich green foliage suitable for use as a specimen plant or informal hedge or screen. Grevilleas need little supplemental water once well-established in the garden or landscape. It also makes an easy, low-maintenance and forgiving container specimen that can be overwintered indoors where not hardy. Grevilleas may also be utilized as cut flowers. Do not use phosphorous containing fertilizers, especially in soil-less potting mixes and soils low in Iron. Item# 12640

Tall dense spikes of foxglove flowers in shades of orange are produced beginning in late spring with the show continuing into fall above the rosettes of dark green foliage. Firecracker Digiplexis, is one of the first cross-generic hybrids between the tropical Canary Island Isoplexis (now classified as a Digitalis) and Digitalis purpurea producing a vigorous exceptionally free flowering hybrid. These new longer flowering Foxgloves can be added to the garden and landscape but also make showy container specimens. The flowers are sure to draw in a variety of pollinators for the nectar rich reward. Firecracker Digiplexis is considered hardy in zone 8, in colder climates it makes a worthy annual. Images courtesy of Walter's Gardens, Inc., all rights reserved. Item# 12303

2022 Missouri Botanic Garden Plants of Merit selection! 18" long arching spikes composed of numerous dark golden yellow flowers burst onto the scene in late summer and fall creating a much needed feast of nectar and pollen for bees, butterflies including migratory Monarchs, and other garden beneficials. Fireworks is an award winning selection of the native Roughleaf Goldenrod, Solidago rugosa, and it won top marks in the Goldenrod trials at the Chicago Botanic Gardens. This is a hardy, clump-forming slowly spreading (a.k.a. short rhizomatous) herbaceous perennial that is both adaptable and manageable. Fireworks Goldenrod prefers a full to mostly sunny site in an average moist to moist fertile soil although it is tolerant of part shade, part sun conditions. Use this easy to grow native perennial in naturalistic settings and in mixed perennial gardens and landscapes. Item# 12313

A dwarf selection of our native Sundrops, Fireworks is the ultimate Oenothera cultivar producing vigorous but compact sprawling plants with red tinged foliage and even redder new growth and winter rosettes. The plants are absolutely covered by 2" wide, widely flaring, 4-petalled, glowing sunny yellow flowers in late spring and early summer. Images courtesy of North Creek Nurseries. Item# 10160.

Tall dense spikes of fiery orange buds open to honey colored tubular flowers that darken as they fade and are produced throughout the growing season above the fragrant medium green foliage. First Light® Sunrise™ Orange Agastache or Hummingbird Mint's excellent flower power ensures that it will keep your hummingbirds happy throughout the growing season. Provide a full to mostly sunny location with excellent drainage and good air circulation for the best results. Enjoy this Hummingbird Mint as a low maintenance container plant or use it en masse in the garden and landscape. Moderately drought resistant once well-established. Deer and rabbit resistant. First Light® Sunrise™ Orange Agastache received high marks in trials at Penn State in 2018, 4.47 out of a possible 5.  Images courtesy of Green Fuse® Botanicals, all rights reserved. Item# 12400

Tall dense spikes of red tubular flowers are produced throughout the growing season above the fragrant medium green foliage. First Light® Sunrise™ Red Agastache or Hummingbird Mint is the reddest taller growing cultivar to date and its excellent flower power ensures that it will keep your hummingbirds happy throughout the season. Provide a full to mostly sunny location with excellent drainage and good air circulation for the best results. Enjoy this Hummingbird Mint as a low maintenance container plant or use it en masse in the garden and landscape. Moderately drought resistant once well-established. Deer and rabbit resistant. First Light® Sunrise™ Red Agastache received high marks in trials at Penn State in 2018. Images courtesy of Green Fuse® Botanicals, all rights reserved. Item# 11998

Tall dense spikes of sunny yellow tubular flowers that turn orange/apricot when they fade creating an almost butterscotch overall effect and are produced throughout the growing season above the fragrant medium green foliage. First Light® Sunrise™ Yellow Agastache or Hummingbird Mint's excellent flower power ensures that it will keep your hummingbirds happy throughout the growing season. Provide a full to mostly sunny location with excellent drainage and good air circulation for the best results. Enjoy this Hummingbird Mint as a low maintenance container plant or use it en masse in the garden and landscape. Moderately drought resistant once well-established. Deer and rabbit resistant. First Light® Sunrise™ Yellow Agastache received top marks in trials at Penn State in 2018, 4.75 out of a possible 5.  Images courtesy of Green Fuse® Botanicals, all rights reserved. Item# 12399

Rounded clusters up to 5" wide are composed of a multitude of rich fiery red butterfly shaped flowers that may be produced nearly throughout the year on this rare and unusual tropical vine. The curved butterfly pollinated flowers are produced on a woody twining vine with large rounded deep green foliage. An excellent choice for tropical gardens, indoors, or anywhere a small manageable vine is needed although in the ground plants may reach 12' high. The Flaming Glory Bower Vine truly is one of the most beautiful and free flowering of all vining Clerodendrums. Item# 9346

Clusters of flaming red butterfly-shaped flowers are held in large clusters above the velvety heart-shaped tropical foliage. The nectar rich flowers of the Flaming Glory Bower are produced throughout summer and into fall and attract butterflies, hummingbirds, and bees. Makes an easy, medium to large container plant where not hardy. Prefers light shade to cool sunlight and a moderately fertile, average moist, well-drained soil. Item# 9345

Large, flat displays of rich yellow flowers are born over an exteded period in summer that lasts until early fall. Flat-Top or Shiny Goldenrod provides a perfect landing platform for pollinators while they enjoy its rich nectar and pollen. Unlike many of the Goldenrods this is a true clump forming perennial that stays where you put it. It gets the name Shiny Goldenrod from its shiny foliage. Item# 10683.

An award winning Butterfly Bush, Flutterby Petite® Tutti Frutti produces wave after wave of fragrant fuchsia colored flowers with a contrasting orange eye in dense spikes from spring to fall. This Buddleia is a densely branching compact deciduous shrub with gray-green foliage that makes colorful addition to the garden and landscape but is small enough to use in medium-sized containers. The fragrant flowers of Buddleias are excellent for attracting butterflies, bees, and a host of other garden beneficials. Flutterby Petite® Tutti Frutti Butterfly Bush was selected as an LSU Super Plant in 2014.  Item# 11438

The Fragrant White Mistflower produces clusters of fragrant, white, nectar-rich flowers in fall just as the Monarch butterflies are migrating southward. The flowers attract a large variety of pollinators including bees, hummingbirds, butterflies, and other garden beneficials. This shrubby perennial native of the Edwards Plateau is a tough hombre that is moderately drought resistant and can develop into a somewhat woody shrub. Item# 11358

The bright yellow and green variegated foliage of this dwarf variegated Glossy Abelia is a standout in the garden, landscape, and even as a container plant where its sunny foliage contrasts nicely with surrounding perennials and shrubs. The new growth of Francis Mason Abelia emerges an orange to coppery color and matures to a sunny yellow to gold and green. Francis Mason is a naturally dwarf to semi-dwarf, semi-evergreen to deciduous, naturally rounded shrub selected for its boldly variegated foliage and its clusters of large white tinged pink, lightly fragrant, funnel shaped flowers that begin appearing in late spring or early summer and continue into fall on new growth. The nectar rich flowers attract bees, butterflies, and hummingbirds. Provide a full to mostly sunny site for optimum vigor and the brightest foliage color. Tough, pest and disease resistant, easy and reliable. Item# 12052

The red to pinkish-red and white tubular flowers emerge from between the spikes of chartreuse bracts from spring to fall to year-round under warm tropical conditiosn. The Fruit Cocktail Shrimp Plant, one the newest selections of Justicia brandegeeana, has a naturally more compact, better branching habit than the typical Red Shrimp Plant but in all other regards it is nearly identical. It is quite tolerant of light conditions ranging from full sun to light shade but may have the densest habit in sunnier conditions. The flowers attract hummingbirds, larger butterflies, and other pollinators. Use Shrimp Plants to add color in containers, as a specimen plant or in mixed container gardens, as well as in the garden and landscape. Provide an average to well-drained, moderately fertile, average moist soil for optimum vigor and flowering. Item# 12724

The super cute, 1" long, hot fuchsia colored, nodding tubular flowers are tipped in starkly contrasting bright sunny yellow and are adorned with two tiny rounded purple to red-purple ears with matching filaments emerging from the tube that are tipped in yellow pollen. Funny Face Cuphea or Cigar Plant is a hybrid selection with a compact well-branched mounding habit and excellent spring to fall flower power all the while attracting hummingbirds, bees, and the occassional butterfly. Use this adorable heat and sunloving tropical in hanging baskets, window boxes and specimen containers, in mixed container gardens as a filler or spiller, or add it to the garden and landscape. Provide a full to partly shade location in an average moist, well-drained, fertile soil for optimum vigor and flowering. Photos courtesy of PAC Elsner / Westhoff - www.pac-elsner.com / www.westflowers.de, all rights reserved. Item# 12460

Glowing intense red, 1" long two-lipped tubular flowers are borne along short spikes from summer to frost on this vigorous selection of the drought tolerant Autumn Sage. A 'must have' for the Hummingbird lover! Furman's Red Autumn Sage is an older selection that has proven to be one of the hardiest and most freely flowering of the compact red flowered Autumn Sages and has been deemed a reliable perennial well into zone 5B and 6. A 2005 Plant Select® Award winner. Provide a full to mostly sunny site with very good to excellent drainage for optimum health and flowering. Drought resistant once fully established, deer resistant and this tough little Salvia makes an easy and rewarding low water container specimen as well as a colorful addition to the garden and landscape. Item# 10518

Vigorous, repeat flowering, and reliably hardy to zone 6! Large rounded clusters, to 5" across, composed of deep blue trumpets are perched atop strong 3-4' sturdy stems on a tight clump forming plant with upright to arching narrow rich green foliage. Galaxy Blue Agapanthus has been successfully trialed for over 7 years in Zeeland, Michigan by the folks at Walter's Gardens with excellent reliability, vigor and cold hardiness.Flowering may begin in mid spring in zone 8 but will likely flower in summer where winters are coldest. Use Galaxy Blue Agapanthus anywhere you want to make a statement, including as a specimen container plants. The flowers attract bees, butterflies, and hummingbirds. Images courtesy of Walter's Gardens, Inc., all rights reserved. Item#12735

Vigorous and reliably hardy to zone 6! Large rounded clusters, to 5" across, composed of pure white trumpets are perched atop strong 3-4' sturdy stems on a tight clump forming plant with upright to arching narrow rich green foliage. Galaxy White Agapanthus has been successfully trialed for over 7 years in Zeeland, Michigan by the folks at Walter's Gardens with excellent reliability, vigor and cold hardiness. Our plants are in bud at the time of this writing, 5-25-2020, but will likely flower in summer where winters are coldest. Use Galaxy White Agapanthus anywhere you want to make a statement and the flowers attract bees, butterflies, and hummingbirds. Images courtesy of Walter's Gardens, Inc., all rights reserved. Item#12137