Plants to Attract Birds and Butterflies

By Mary Jo Baur

Many gardeners enjoy bird watching and would also like to attract butterflies to their yards.  Obviously birds need trees and shrubs for cover and nesting purposes, but many birds like to eat seeds of common garden flowers.  In my herb garden, I grow anise hyssop, which the goldfinch flock to in the fall when the seeds are available.  Humming-

birds tend to like flowers that are brightly colored, such as columbines, hollyhocks, marigolds and zinnias.  Butter-flies also are attracted to those, plus black-eyed susans, goldenrod, liatris and butterfly bushes. Of course, sun-flowers provide lots of seeds that attract many birds.

Here are two photos I took last summer of an eastern tiger swallowtail landing on one of my hydrangea bushes.