Hard to beat a flame acanthus and Turk's cap. They both love the heat and the hummers, butterflies and bees love them.

Gaura (photo) and zexmenia are also great for bees. A few of the others mentioned so far, like flame acanthus and zexmenia, are also butterfly host plants. Butterflyweed/milkweed (Asclepias tuberosa) is a great Monarch host plant and does well in much of the state once established.

Buford holly is actually our most intense bee magnet, but it took many years to flower extensively enough to attract the hoards.

Here is a link that might be useful: Host and nectar plant lists (dallasbutterflies)

My best bee plants last year where in my herb bed. Munstead Lavender, magic carpet thyme, German thyme. This year I put in a new Hummingbird, butterfly, bee garden. I haven't seen any bees yet, as nothing is in bloom. All of the above mentioned are great.

Lantanas are also good, as are pentas.

Check out the butterfly forum. You will get lots of help!

My Russian Sage is always swarming with bees in summer. Its very tough and seems to thrive on drought and heat. I have a friend with a vegetable garden who decided to plant a row to go by his garden to attract them.

Of all the plants for attracting butterflies I have growing, and I have many varieties, nothing I have ever seen attracted them like the row of agastache up the street. It was unbelievable last fall --- a cloud of monarchs & other kinds were on them, the air was literally full of butterflies. I couldn't believe it. Although lantana is good too, they were nothing even close to this. I planted six plants this year.

Thank you! I'm so excited to plant a bee and butterfly garden along with my veggies!

Solidago (Goldenrod), Salvia, and Stonecrop Sedums are really popular with bees and similar insects, especially later in the summer. Coneflowers and Black-eyed Susans, too. Butterfly Bushes were popular with Swallowtails, Monarchs, Red Admirals, Sphinx Moths, and Hummingbirds.

At least in my backyard 60 miles west of Chicago...

Didn't see that many Monarchs, though, and have not seen a caterpillar on field Milkweed in years.

vince

Eupatorium havenses, lavendar, Salvia chiquita

Great suggestions but did anyone mention Tithonia or Zinnias? I

I often find 5 or 6 monarchs on my Gregg's Mistflower (which, I think is Conoclinium greggii). It's also tough and drought tolerant. Spreads itself by seed, so you might have to control it some.

Here is a link that might be useful: Gregg's Mistflower

All of the above plus all of my sages but when my lamb's ear blooms, it is nonstop covered with honey bees

My wax leaf ligustrums are covered in both when they bloom if you want a shrub. Also, bees love my peach tree and the mint when they are in bloom. I'd love to eat some of the honey they make from the mint flowers. I bet it is good!

All of the above. I've had great luck with several. I use a lot of vinca and zinnias in my garden because they tend to be more drought tolerant and handle the heat well. I also like portacula/moss rose for those areas that are hard to keep watered. This year I am adding several types of herbs specifically for the other ages of butterflies.

Gaillardia, coneflowers, zexmenias, buddleia, salvias, aloysia. Also don't neglect the host plants like pipevine, passiflora, asclepias, fennel etc.

my best plant for bees and butterflies --by far-- is the sweet almond verbena
it is not a pretty plant but is easily grown and survives droughts or plentiful rainfall
mine is about 10 feet tall and maybe 8-10 feet in diameter and does well in sun and slight shade
smells like root beer has white flowers that look like butterfly bush flowers
bees in particular love this plant....

Bumblebees love Chaste trees and Wysteria and the butterflies love the butterfly bushes.

My crepe myrtle had a lot of bees last year. Mine is the white Natchez. I've heard that they don't really go for other colors.

Zinnias and Cosmos are good.

Bee balm, of course ! NachtSprite heard that they don't like colored crepe myrtles, but my bees are all over my bubble-gum-pink crepes!

Butterflies LOVE Verbena bonariensis!

Clearwing hummingbird moth which flies in the daytime because at first glance it looks like a wasp ...
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Gulf fritillary
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One of the black swallowtails ...
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