10 Pollinator Friendly Plants That’ll Bring All the Birds and Bees to Your Yard

Cuphea, also called firecracker plant, is a gorgeous annual that comes in brilliant shades of red, purple and orange with tubular flowers that are hummingbird magnets.

Cuphea loves the heat, but keep it watered. It also needs full sun, so avoid planting them in shady spots.

This vining plant needs a sturdy trellis or garden structure to climb. Its small reddish-orange flowers are beautiful, and hummingbirds adore them. Bonus: The beans are edible! The more you pick, the more it produces. It needs full sun.

Bees, butterflies and hummingbirds love the spikes of lavender flowers on this hardy perennial. It’s tough enough to withstand drought, but it also tolerates even the coldest winters. It blooms for weeks and can be cut back to encourage new blooms. This plant likes full sun but will tolerate some shade.

Almost all culinary herbs—which have surprisingly pretty flowers—attract pollinators. You’ll be able to harvest the leaves for cooking, while the pollinators enjoy the blooms. Chives, thyme, mint and sage are good perennial choices, while basil, fennel and parsley are annuals. Most herbs need full sun.

This stunning annual looks smashing in a hanging basket or window box. Its exotic-looking blooms come in deep reds and purples, and it blooms all season long, attracting butterflies and hummingbirds. Fuchsia needs partial to full shade.

All sorts of pollinators love the pink, purple or red fringed blooms of this tough-as-nails perennial. Plant these heat- and cold-tolerant flowers in masses for the best visual effect. It’s also easier for pollinators to find them if you plant in “drifts” so they don’t have to search for a single plant like a needle in a haystack. Likes full sun to partial shade.

Bees and butterflies enjoy the teeny honey-scented blooms of this lovely low-growing annual. Alyssum is particularly attractive cascading from a large pot or window box, and it even survives a light frost. Likes full to partial sun.

Bees, butterflies and hummingbirds love the spikes of lavender, deep purple or white flowers on this hardy perennial. It’s also most attractive planted in drifts. Needs full sun.

Torenia, also known as wishbone flower, attracts hummingbirds with its pink, purple or yellow tube-shaped blooms. This annual doesn’t have to be deadheaded (i.e., have its spent blooms removed) in order to keep flowering all season. It does need partial to full shade, though.

Stonecrop attracts plenty of bees and butterflies when it blooms in late summer to late fall. This perennial is sturdy and upright, so it provides nice vertical height to the back of a bed or border. The pretty seed heads remain on the plant, so it still looks pretty in the winter. This plant needs full sun.