Buena Creek Gardens

San Diego's finest selection of new and uncommon flowering plants

Cheeseburgers - Part Two!
by Steve Brigham

In the immortal words of Felder Rushing, no matter how many kinds of hummingbird and butterfly plants you plant, "they always go for the Cheeseburgers!" Meaning that there are some flowers that hummingbirds and butterflies just like better than others. Last month in this column, we took a look at some of the "whoppers" that serve as "cheeseburgers" for both hummingbirds and butterflies. But in general, hummingbirds and butterflies like different flowers. This month, we'll look at my own "Top 20" lists of plants for attracting hummingbirds and butterflies. Each group mentioned in these lists contains many different choices, all of which are beautiful and showy garden plants in their own right. Look these groups up in your Sunset Western Garden Book to get an idea of the full range of species and cultivars available.

“Top 20” Hummingbird Favorites

Hummingbirds love tubular flowers, and they also love orange and red. Although hummingbirds are native only in North and South America, they also enjoy many kinds of flowers that are native to other places in the world. Sometimes it seems that hummingbirds will go for nearly any flower, and indeed the list of all hummingbird flowers is a long one. Listed alphabetically, here are some of their favorite groups that we can grow in San Diego.

Aloe (aloes)

Alstroemeria (Peruvian lilies)

Asclepias (milkweeds)

Buddleja (butterfly bushes)

Callistemon (bottlebrushes)

Cuphea (firecracker flowers)

Duranta (sky flowers)

Erythrina (coral trees)

Fuchsia (fuchsias)

Grevillea (grevilleas)

Heuchera (coral bells)

Iochroma (iochromas)

Kniphofia (torch lilies)

Leonotis (lion's tails)

Lobelia laxiflora (Mexican lobelia)

Penstemon (penstemons)

Pentas (star clusters)

Salvia (flowering sages)

Verbena (verbenas)

Zauschneria (California fuchsias)

“Top 20” Butterfly Favorites

Butterflies love big clusters of small flat flowers that provide both nectar and a convenient place to land. They also need plants to act as food plants for their caterpillars. Although many different kinds of butterflies visit the flowers of the plant groups below, the larvae plants each have specific types of butterflies whose caterpillars feed on them. Listed alphabetically, here are some of the best butterfly plant groups that are also great garden plants here in San Diego (larvae plants are marked with an asterisk).

Achillea (yarrows)

Asclepias (milkweeds) *

Buddleja (butterfly bushes)

Centranthus ruber (Jupiter's beard)

Chrysanthemum maximum (shasta daisies)

Coreopsis (coreopsis)

Duranta (sky flowers)

Echinacea purpurea (coneflowers)

Foeniculum vulgare (fennels) *

Gaura lindheimeri (butterfly flowers)

Heliotropium arborescens (heliotropes)

Lantana (lantanas)

Passiflora (passionflowers) *

Pentas lanceolata (star clusters)

Rudbeckia (gloriosa daisies)

Salvia (flat-flowered types) (flowering sages)

Scabiosa (pincushion flowers)

Tagetes (marigolds)

Tithonia (mexican sunflowers)

Verbena (verbenas)

Winged Friends at the Dinner Table

Yes, folks, if you plant these "cheeseburgers," you'll be pleasantly surprised at the many winged friends that will show up at your garden dinner table! You'll also notice that your garden looks pretty good, too!