Yes, full sun annuals pollinators love are some of the best flowers you can plant in your garden. Zinnias, sunflowers, and lantana top the list for bringing bees and butterflies to your yard. These blooms offer easy access to nectar that pollinators need for food.
I planted a row of zinnias along my vegetable garden fence two years ago. Butterflies showed up every morning within a few weeks. Swallowtails and monarchs landed on the flowers right next to where I worked. The bees came too and buzzed from bloom to bloom all day. My tomatoes set more fruit that year than ever before.
Butterfly attracting annuals like lantana and zinnia work so well for good reasons. Oxford research shows that flower shape affects which pollinators visit. Flat, open blooms let butterflies land and reach nectar with their long tongues. Tube-shaped flowers attract hummingbirds who can hover and sip. Your garden needs both types to bring in the most wildlife.
Color matters more than you might think for attracting pollinators. Bees see blue and purple best, so they love those shades in your beds. Butterflies prefer red, orange, and pink flowers most of the time. Hummingbirds go crazy for bright red tubular blooms. Plant a mix of colors and you draw in all sorts of visitors.
A 4-year study at Minnesota tested the best annuals for pollinators. They looked at dozens of flowers in real gardens over time. The top plants were annual salvia, zinnias, and marigolds. Mississippi State added lantana and pentas as bee friendly sun flowers worth planting in your yard.
Sunflowers bring more than just bees to your garden each summer. Birds visit the big seed heads in fall and eat for weeks. The tall stalks give you a backdrop for shorter flowers in front of them. I grow a patch of sunflowers every year near my bird feeders. The goldfinches start hanging around before the seeds even ripen.
You can plan your garden to have something blooming from spring through fall for pollinators. Start with cool season annuals like sweet alyssum in early spring. Add zinnias and lantana for summer color and nectar in your beds. Finish with Mexican sunflower and cosmos that bloom until frost hits. This way pollinators find food in your yard all season long.
Group your pollinator plants together in your garden beds for best results. One zinnia plant helps some, but a mass of them draws much more attention. Pollinators see large patches of color from far away and fly toward them. I plant my zinnias in blocks of at least 9-12 plants together. The butterfly traffic went up big time once I switched to this method.
Read the full article: Full Sun Annuals That Thrive in Sunshine
