Tough container plants for hummingbirds and butterflies

Views: 23742

Containers are easy

While I’m not much of a vegetable gardener, I love to paint my yard with flowers, trying to find those hardy plants that don’t mind extreme weather, poor soils, and neglect. Of course, I garden with wildlife in mind, particularly with an eye towards helping hummingbirds and butterflies, and container plants can make this easier.

Many people think that gardening is too challenging to try. Others are afraid that gardening is time, money, and energy intensive. Depending on your expectations, gardening can be all of these things, but I’ve discovered that it doesn’t have to be if all you really want is some color on your patio that may attract some wildlife.

There are many plants available that require little effort to maintain. You can plant them in a large pot or container, water and fertilize them according to instructions, and they will lure hummingbirds and butterflies even to small spaces such as a patio or balcony. The time, money, and energy investment consist of the following:

  • Purchasing large pots/containers (however many you want) and enough quality potting soil to fill the pots
  • Choosing a few appropriate plants (details to follow)
  • Planting the plants and immediately watering them in
  • Placing the pots in a sunny or partly sunny spot (if in doubt, morning sun is almost always good)
  • Watering and feeding the plants according to their needs

And, voilá! Enjoy watching your butterflies and hummingbirds all spring and summer. Truly, this isn’t much of an oversimplification. Many people like combining plants to form beautiful arrangements, but that isn’t a necessity if all you want to do is to help your butterflies and hummingbirds.

Easy maintenance plants

There are a several plants that are extremely easy to grow (and difficult to kill):

Red hot sallies (Salvia splendens)

These brilliant red annuals are indestructible if you don’t over water them. (How easy is that?) I have seen hummingbirds fighting over them. They are also beloved of cloudless sulphur butterflies. They do well in sunny or partly sunny locations, and require regular watering. (A relative to Salvia splendens, Salvia nemorosa is a perennial that can also be grown in pots. While it won’t bloom all spring and summer, if deadheaded, it may put on multiple flushes of flowers. Mine typically bloom in early spring and again in late summer/fall.)

Salvia splendens

Red shrimp plant (Justicia brandegeana)

If you’ve ever walked along the Riverwalk in San Antonio, you have seen this plant in abundance. There, and in its native Mexico, it is a perennial, but it does not tolerate freezing temperatures. My red shrimp plant is planted in a large container with rich potting soil, and I leave it in a spot with full to partial sun. It requires routine watering, and it likes to be fertilized monthly, but it blooms from late spring all the way into winter. Hummingbirds adore these flowers, and I see my birds feeding on it daily, even when placed only a few feet from my house. I have successfully over-wintered my plant indoors for three years running.

Zinnias (Zinnia elegans)

Zinnias come in many colors and heights, and all are attractive to hummingbirds and butterflies. I plant mine in the ground, rather than pots, but they also do well as mass plantings in pots (use a big pot and plant a variety). Zinnias are native to Mexico, and they like sun, heat, and they tolerate drought. I’ve seen many species of butterflies on them. They are annuals, but mine reseed every year. Most garden stores carry zinnias, but they are also easy to start from seeds.

Common buckeye butterfly on zinnias.

Pentas (Pentas lanceolate)

Also known as Egyptian star flower, pentas are native from Yemen to East Africa. As you might imagine, they are extremely heat tolerant, and generally require very little attention. I see more butterflies on pentas than hummingbirds, but both will visit them.

Firecracker Plant (Cuphea ignea ‘David Verity’)

This hybrid cuphea is winter hardy in zones 8-10. Firecracker plant tolerates extreme heat, and is somewhat drought tolerant. I find it to be low maintenance, and it blooms profusely all season long. Hummingbirds and cloudless sulphurs love the long, cigar-shaped flowers. (Almost all cuphea do well in heat and attract pollinators.)

Gomphrena ‘Fireworks

It’s difficult to convey how much I love this plant. Heat tolerant, fairly drought tolerant, it is not picky about care and maintenance. It just keeps blooming in a profusion of pink balls. Attractive to a wide variety of butterflies, it has reseeded in my yard some, but I welcome the additional plants.

Cloudless sulphur butterfly on Gomphrena Fireworks

These are a few plants that have done extraordinarily well in my yard and seem to have butterflies and hummingbirds on them every day while they’re in bloom. If you have always been afraid to try gardening but like the idea in principle, I encourage you to experiment with the tough container plants detailed above. You might be pleasantly surprised, and your butterflies and hummingbirds will be grateful.

Meet Leslie Miller

Leslie Ann Miller shares 3.5 acres in rural Oklahoma with birds, butterflies and wide variety of animals. She is currently transforming her yard with plantings…

Leslie's Recent Posts

Woodland phlox
Early spring is time to plant native spring ephemerals
Read this post
violets
Native violets: beneficial, not a bane
Read this post

Membership Has Its Perks

Become a registered user and get access to exclusive benefits like...
  • Ask The Expert Questions
  • Newsletter Archive
  • PlantersPlace Magazine
  • Members Photo Gallery
  • Product Ratings & Reviews
  • Garden Club Samples

Here’s more information about gardening that you’re going to want