12 Months of Nectar

Ever wish your landscape enticed pollinators year-round? It can — if you use plants from this list of nectar-rich flora.

January is the time for planning and preparing your landscape for the coming year. Some plant experts compile lists for 12 months of color. But I wanted to be different. So, I’m proposing 12 months of nectar — for butterflies and hummingbirds.

In general, butterflies prefer umbrella-shaped flowers and hummingbirds prefer tubular flowers. So, I’m keeping it simple and suggesting three plants per month to keep them happy and fed.

	Butterflies	Hummingbirds
January	Mistflower Alyssum Rosemary	Firecracker plant Mexican honeysuckle Shrimp plant
February	Citrus Alyssum Four nerve daisy	Citrus Mexican honeysuckle Texas buckeye
March	Salvias Blue curls Porterweed	Red yucca Texas buckeye Texas redbud
April	Butterfly bush Blue curls Salvias	Crossvine Indian paintbrush Salvias
May	Pentas Zinnias Butterfly bush	Angel’s trumpet Crossvine Standing cypress
June	Zinnias Verbana Coneflowers	Salvias Red Yucca Cupheas
July	Zinnias Sunflowers Coneflowers	Esperanza Firebush Mexican olive
August	Zinnias Verbana Coneflowers	Esperanza Firebush Turk’s cap
September	Salvias Mistflowers Fall aster	Red yucca Esperanza Desert willow
October	Salvias Mistflowers Fall aster	Turk’s cap Red yucca Firebush
November	Duranta Mexican flame vine Fall aster	Firecracker plant Turk’s cap Shrimp plant
December	Mistflower Alyssum Rosemary	Firecracker plant Mexican honeysuckle Shrimp plant

If I had to choose five all-purpose perennials for both butterflies and hummingbirds, they would be:

1. Salvia
2. Turk’s cap
3. Mistflower
4. Firecracker plant
5. Rosemary

And three annuals:

1. Zinnia
2. Penta
3. Coneflower

Now, that’s one all-purpose, year-round pollinator landscape!