Native plants are a boon to wildlife no matter where you live. When you grow species that evolve in your climate, you help animals that rely on them for survival. A major example is the Monarch butterflies. They need milkweeds native to North America to lay their eggs on.
Non-native plants provide nectar and pollen for generalist pollinators, but they lack substance for feeding specialist ones. They require certain native plants for their nectar, pollen, leaves, or habitat. Generalists, like honeybees, thrive with many species in their vicinity and benefit more from non-native plants than specialists.
Native plants are also easier to grow than non-native ones! They adapt to local climates, thriving with whatever your weather decides to do. Some are shrubs with dense foliage, while others are wildflowers with annual blooms. No matter what you decide to start with, you’re increasing biodiversity by planting a single plant.
Any of the following ornamentals are superb for attracting animals and insects. Many feed multiple species, while others provide structure for birds, squirrels, and ground-dwelling mammals. Without further ado, here are 31 native plants that attract wildlife.
Milkweed/Butterfly Flower Seeds
Butterflies will seek out your garden when you grow this vigorous, heirloom perennial, a preferred nectar plant for monarchs and other pollinators. Beginning in summer, you will be treated to a profusion of fiery, red-orange flowers followed by decorative green seed pods. Drought tolerant once established; performs in poor soils. Native to much of the United States. A long-lasting addition to cut flower arrangements. Perennial in USDA zones 3 and warmer. Sap is toxic; avoid eye/skin contact and do not ingest.
Hummingbird Mint
A low-spreading groundcover with minty fresh leaves, hummingbird mint is a perfect creeping specimen for containers, pollinator gardens, or raised beds. It sprouts red tubular flowers that resemble bee balm blossoms. They lure in hummingbirds and butterflies with ample nectar.
Hummingbird mint originates on the West Coast and appreciates well-drained soil with compost. If it survives your winters, it will spread out a few inches annually and form a wide, low-growing specimen.
Canada Goldenrod
Canada goldenrod enjoys a wide habitat range and provides ample pollen for dozens of pollinators. It sprouts fireworks-shaped bright yellow flower clusters atop tall stems. This perennial blooms at the end of summer when others are dwindling, making it a valuable resource for wildlife.
Canada goldenrod grows from Canada south through California and east throughout the states except in the South. It appreciates six to eight hours of direct sunlight and is drought-tolerant once it establishes itself.
Common Yarrow
Yarrow is a global perennial hardy enough to survive in most places. It thrives on disturbed ground, roadsides, and empty lots just as much as in pollinator gardens and backyards. You’ll notice its lacey, fern-like foliage growing in rosettes in spring. By summer, they sprout white flower clusters so dense that pollinators use them to take a rest!
Many yarrow cultivars exist with different colored flowers. Try ‘Moonshine’ for sunshine-yellow, ‘Paprika’ for yellow-red, or ‘Balvinviolet’ for violet rose.
Cow Parsnip
A giant relative of invasive hogweed, cow parsnip is a native perennial that reaches towering heights up to ten feet tall. It sprouts small white flowers in large clusters atop its stalks, and they attract bees, butterflies, and moths. Their seeds are an edible boon for birds in late summer and fall.
Cow parsnip may cause a photosensitive rash when you touch it. Use gloves to handle it, and be cautious when near it.
Bigleaf Lupine
This herbaceous perennial stands out with giant leaves and flower spikes. They erupt with lipped blossoms in shades of purple and white. Lure bumblebees, honeybees, and pollinating insects into your space with one or two of them in a raised bed or ornamental border.
Bigleaf lupine thrives with free-draining soil and plenty of organic matter. Apply compost or a similar mulch around your plant’s base, and it’ll reward you with huge blooms perfect for cut flower bouquets.
Douglas’ Spirea
This wet lover thrives where other shrubs would rot! Douglas’ spirea appreciates consistently moist soil, and you’ll find it growing naturally around rivers, creeks, and lakesides. Shrubs sprout magenta flower clusters that look like mini amaranth flowers.
Douglas’ spirea loses its leaves during winter, and birds use them to make their nests. It provides them with habitat materials and creates a hidden space in summer when new leaves sprout throughout its branches.
New Mexico Thistle
Thistles may not be the first wildflower you think of planting in a garden, but native thistles are crucial biodiversity boosters for at-risk pollinators and birds. If you live in the American Southwest, you’ll want to try growing a New Mexico thistle.
Bees, butterflies, and pollinating flies flock to its pink-purple flowers as they bloom after rainfall. Then, seeds form and invite birds to eat them. Sow a few thistles in your desert garden for touch, reliable biennials that’ll reseed themselves.
Crownbeard
Crownbeard resembles sunflowers with its yellow composite flower heads. They contain ample pollen and nectar, and their seeds feed songbirds during late summer and autumn. Crownbeard is an annual or short-lived perennial, although it reseeds readily on disturbed ground.
Let crownbeard spread on its own or collect seeds at summer’s end by snipping blossom heads off their stalks. Leave them to dry in a paper bag, and the seeds will fall to the bottom when they’re ready. Sow the seeds where you’d like them to grow in fall or spring.
Wild Bergamot
Wild bergamot adds charm wherever it grows. It sprouts erect stems off creeping rhizomatous stems belowground. They bloom pink-lavender composite flowers with tubular blossoms arranged in a circle. Hummingbirds devour their nectar, and this perennial is a welcome sight for them and gardeners.
Grow wild bergamot from seeds or potted plants in fall or spring. Plant them during the fall for early spring growth in zones seven and above. Gardeners in zones six and below should wait until early spring to sow seeds or transplant potted plants.
Coyote Mint
Coyote mint is a close relative of hummingbird mint. It’s incredibly fragrant, with purple, pink, or white lacey blossoms on short stems. Coyote mint is more upright than hummingbird mint and is perfect for rock gardens with good drainage.
This perennial originates on the West Coast and struggles in extreme frosts that are more common further inland. Protect your tender specimens during the winter with a thick layer of mulch around their base.
Allegheny Serviceberry
Allegheny serviceberries provide for wildlife in many ways: they grow flowers with nectar and pollen, they reach forty feet tall and create habitat space, and they form blueberry-like fruit that tastes decadently sweet both for gardeners and birds!
Allegheny serviceberries thrive throughout Eastern North American forests underneath taller trees. They appreciate dappled sunlight but can adapt to direct sunlight. These serviceberries reach epic proportions in maturity, so grow them where they’ll have space for spreading out to avoid pruning heartaches later.
Butterfly Milkweed
A gorgeous heirloom perennial, butterfly milkweed is a must-have ornamental species in any pollinator garden. It’s a hardy North American native plant that Monarch butterflies crave! They’ll live on the plant during the summer and disappear for the winter. Don’t worry, though, as new shoots in spring invite Monarchs back into the garden.
Sow butterfly milkweed seeds during fall for early spring germination. If winter freezes are particularly present in your garden, plant seeds two to four weeks before your last average frost date.
Field Thistle
Why plant a prickly thistle when there are other less-threatening wildflowers? The main reason is that field thistles are reliable bloomers with ample flower nectar for butterflies, moths, bees, pollinating flies, and birds. Another is that they are incredibly hardy, surviving long periods of summer drought with dozens of sticky flowers.
Field thistles reach ten feet tall under direct sunlight and are best for wild or natural gardens. They sometimes live for a year before blooming, and all plants die after producing seeds. They’ll reseed themselves readily, giving you a consistent supply of nectar-rich field thistles.
Purple Prairie Clover
Purple prairie clover feeds both mammals and pollinators. Its leaves are delicious tasting for grazing herbivores, and the flowers contain ample pollen for pollinators. Short, squat plants sprout flower spikes with tiny purple blossoms—look closer, and you’ll see they have bright orange stamens that contrast beautifully with the purple petals.
Purple prairie clover is native to Eastern North America northwards through Canada. It’s cold hardy down to zone three, and exceptionally drought-tolerant. Purple prairie clover is the perfect perennial for pollinator gardens, borders, or raised beds.
Showy Ticktrefoil
Purple-white pea-like blossoms decorate showy ticktrefoil when it blooms perennially. They invite bumblebees, pollinating insects, and moths wherever they sprout. Birds sometimes use the leaves to make their nests, and hungry butterflies like to visit the flowers.
Although this native plant is perennial, it also reseeds readily with clinging seeds. They stick to clothes, hair, and animal fur, which helps the species spread to nearby sites. Cut flowers after they bloom to prevent volunteer seedlings.
Spotted Joe Pye Weed
Spotted Joe Pye weed is a wet soil-loving perennial for boggy landscapes. It sprouts bushy clusters of white lacey flowers that attract moths, butterflies, and bees. It’s an ideal summer screening hedge, although it dies back to the ground during winter.
Spotted Joe Pye weed creates a wide clump as it ages with fibrous roots and thick, fleshy rhizomes. You may divide it during dormancy to create clones! Transplant them wherever you’d like to create additional clumps.
Smooth Oxeye
A quaint sunflower relative, smooth oxeye is similarly tough and hardy. It thrives on disturbed land with well-drained soil and six to eight hours of direct sunlight. It may need additional water in its first year to establish itself but grows drought-tolerant.
Smooth oxeye blooms dozens of yellow composite flower heads with mini blossoms. They are a boon to wildlife, feeding bees, flies, and butterflies with nectar and pollen throughout summer. The medium-sized shrubs die back during winter, but reliably sprout back in spring from hardiness zones three through nine.
Prairie Junegrass
This list wouldn’t be complete without native grasses! Prairie junegrass is a lovely clump-forming grass that offers its foliage as nest-making materials for birds. Some pollinators like the flowers that form by early summer, and the seeds are tasty treats for songbirds.
A major benefit of prairie junegrass is its drought hardiness—this perennial thrives with little water, lots of sunshine, and rocky or sandy soil. Tuck it in amongst other sun-loving perennials in rock gardens, edges, or alpine plantings. It also thrives as a meadow plant. Sow its seeds in clusters on wide swaths of land to create a stunning, naturalistic planting style.
Blazing Star
A blazing star plant creates more flowers than foliage! It grows long, thick spikes filled with purple-lacey blooms. They lure pollinating insects to the site with their sweet scent, and the seeds are nutritious food for squirrels and small birds. A perennial for most gardeners, it grows throughout zones three through eight in eastern states.
Start blazing stars from seeds, sowing them in early spring. Once the seedlings sprout and grow hardy, they’ll spread through corms underground and seeds aboveground. Clumps will also grow wide over time, dying in the winter and growing anew in spring.
Smooth Wild Rose
A northwestern U.S. native rose, the smooth wild rose is a dense, thicket-forming shrub that may reach six feet tall. It spreads through underground suckers that form new stems away from the mother plant. Use it as a screen, hedge, or specimen rose. If using it as a specimen rose, prune any suckers that sprout and maintain a central base.
Smooth wild rose is not as well-behaved as a hybrid, but it’s a lovely landscape addition for wildlife. It also grows rose hips that make delicious jams when they’re red and ripe. Grow smooth wild rose with plenty of space around it, giving it regular water during the growing season and plenty of sunshine.
Golden Alexander
Golden Alexanders are delightful little perennials with yellow dill-like flowers. Their leaves resemble hellebores, with tiny serrations on the margins. The flowers support both generalist and specialist bees, as well as other pollinators like moths, butterflies, and beetles.
Golden alexanders appreciate consistently moist soil but will survive occasional droughts. They like lots of sunshine during the day, and you’ll find them commonly growing in meadows, open canopy forests, and abandoned fields.
Chinquapin
With edible chestnut-like nuts, Chinquapin trees delight wildlife and gardeners alike. The nuts are tasty and nutritious, feeding birds, squirrels, and other small mammals. You can consider them a delicacy since they aren’t available at any grocery store. Plant a Chinquapin tree to try the nuts and see for yourself!
Chinquapin is chestnut blight resistant, meaning you can plant it instead of chestnuts for edible nuts without the hassle of disease prevention. A single tree may reach over 30 feet in maturity and will appreciate ample space around its crown to grow properly.
American Holly
This holly is more a tree than it is a shrub! Mature American holly specimens reach well over 50 feet tall, with numerous outward spreading branches growing off a central trunk. They provide red berries that feed birds and flowers that attract pollinating insects.
American holly reaches epic heights and may be best for large, open gardens. It does not stay tidy and compact like non-native holly cultivars, and it’s difficult to prune them small every year. Situate them where they can grow tall and wide and they’ll adapt readily.
New Jersey Tea
New Jersey tea is a relative of California lilac, the purple-blooming native shrub. New Jersey tea is smaller than the West Coast type; it sprouts pink-white flowers much lighter than the ones on California lilac. Give it plenty of sunshine, well-drained soil, and organic matter, and it’ll reward you with dozens of wildlife-attracting blossoms.
New Jersey tea works well on slopes, hills, and borders. Its deep roots grasp onto soil particles and hold them in place, making this species an excellent choice for erosion control.
American Witch Hazel
American witch hazel flowers before most other shrubs during late winter to early spring, providing fragrant nectar at a time when most other species are still sleeping in their dormancy. Grow this witch hazel alongside hellebores and Indian plums for a stunning arrangement of cool weather blooms.
This deciduous shrub may reach 30 feet tall in maturity, with many arching branches. Prune it to keep it small, or situate it with plenty of space to spread up and out.
Allegheny Monkeyflower
Like most bog plants, Allegheny monkeyflower loves wet, fertile soil. It thrives throughout the eastern U.S. in swamps, bogs, and wet meadows. Lush purple flowers bloom on green stalks in spring and summer. They morph into seed pods that spread this perennial further. It also grows through underground rhizomes, creeping larger and larger annually.
Start Allegheny monkeyflower from seeds or potted transplants in early spring. They’ll flower their first year before entering winter dormancy during autumn. Add compost while they rest, and they’ll proliferously bloom in spring.
American Plum
Like the Allegheny serviceberry, the American plum is an eastern North American native shrub or tree with edible fruit. It sprouts white flowers that lure flies and bees, and fruits that attract mammals, birds, and hungry gardeners! Grow it amongst other fruit trees, as it stays under 20 feet tall and you can easily prune it to a size you prefer.
American plums tend to sucker often, meaning they’ll sprout secondary stems from the ground. These will grow into thick trunks with time, creating dense plum thickets. If you’d prefer a tree shape, prune out the suckers before they grow too thick.
Virginia Mountain Mint
Are you looking for a hardy aromatic perennial to replace mint in your garden? Look no further than Virginia mountain mint. It’s a fragrant white-blooming native herb that lures bees, wasps, flies, and butterflies into your yard. The smelly leaves repel foliage-eating animals, meaning you’ll enjoy looking at this plant free of blemishes.
Virginia mountain mint may roam aggressively in moist soils through rhizomes and seeds. Limit its spread by reducing irrigation and cutting spent blooms off before they produce seeds.
Smooth Blue Aster
Smooth blue aster is an eastern U.S. native wildflower that blooms around the same time as Canada goldenrods and Douglas’ spirea. It’s attractive to famished pollinators late during summer, as it provides ample nectar and pollen while not much else is available. Smooth blue aster is a close relative of Douglas aster, and the two resemble each other with purple-yellow flowers on green stems.
Smooth blue aster sprouts from underground roots in spring and enters dormancy during winter. Don’t fear your plants dying back, as it’s a part of their natural life cycle. This aster spreads through seeds—leave spent flowers on plants so they’ll broadcast seeds during fall if you’d like more native asters.
Frostweed
Frostweed earns its name from the ice crystals it creates at first frost. Freezing temperatures cause this perennial to exude water, which slowly freezes into unique shapes. During the growing season, frostweed sprouts white flowers and strappy green leaves that attract pollinating flies, bees, and butterflies. It’s a tall specimen, but its winter dormancy prevents it from reaching over eight feet tall.
Frostweeds grow into wide clumps with age. When mature, they sprout seeds to spread into new areas. Sow these seeds in the fall for spring germination, or divide established plants during winter dormancy and transplant them to a new site where you’d like them to grow.
Seaside Goldenrod
Like Canada goldenrod, seaside goldenrod thrives with little water, lots of sunlight, and well-drained soil. It’s a perennial wildflower that sprouts throughout the southeastern U.S. along coastlines, dunes, and evergreen forests in this range. It reaches eight feet tall when happy, and forms hundreds of tiny yellow flowers.
Seaside goldenrod is the perfect pollinator plant for coastal gardens, as it needs little maintenance or attention to grow well. Water it if it looks dry its first year while establishing itself, and prune spent flowers to encourage more. That’s it! If you’d like this goldenrod to spread, leave spent blossoms on the plant so they’ll sow seeds during autumn.
