Plant These for the Bees and the Butterflies
What Is Companion Flower Planting?
Companion planting is all about strategically placing flowers near your vegetables to help them thrive. Think of it like setting your veggies up with their best plant buddies. These flowers aren’t just pretty faces—they work hard behind the scenes.
Natural Pest Control
Some flowers are basically bodyguards. They repel nasty pests like aphids, nematodes, and even mosquitoes. Others act as trap crops—luring pests away from your tomatoes, squash, and beans.
Pollinator Power
Bees, butterflies, and other pollinators LOVE colorful blooms. Flowers like zinnias, cosmos, and sunflowers attract these helpful visitors, which leads to better pollination and bigger harvests for fruits and veggies like cucumbers, peppers, and melons.
Biodiversity = Resilience
Mixing flowers into your beds creates a more diverse ecosystem, which means a healthier, more balanced garden. It reduces the chances of a single pest or disease wiping out your crops.
Improved Soil Health
Some flowers help enrich the soil naturally. They can fix nitrogen, add organic matter, and break up compacted ground—giving your veggies nutrient-rich, healthy earth to grow in.
These are some of our favorites:
1. Coneflowers (Echinacea): Coneflowers are incredibly beneficial to a garden because they attract pollinators like bees, butterflies, and hummingbirds, boosting the health and productivity of nearby plants. These hardy perennials are drought-tolerant, low-maintenance, and resistant to most pests and diseases, making them ideal for organic (ZERO chemical) gardening. Their deep roots help improve soil structure, and when left standing in fall, their seed heads provide food for birds like goldfinches. On top of their ecological benefits, coneflowers add long-lasting color and beauty to the garden, making them both functional and decorative.
2. Milkweed (Asclepias syruaca): Milkweed is a vital addition to any garden because it serves as the primary host plant for monarch butterflies, providing a place for them to lay eggs and a food source for their caterpillars. Its fragrant, nectar-rich flowers also attract a wide range of pollinators, including bees, butterflies, and hummingbirds, supporting overall garden biodiversity. Milkweed is hardy, drought-tolerant, and thrives in poor soil, making it an easy, low-maintenance plant. By including milkweed in your garden, you're not only enhancing pollination and natural beauty but also actively supporting struggling monarch populations and contributing to a healthier ecosystem.
3. Zinnias (Zinnia elegans): Zinnias are a fantastic addition to any garden because they attract a wide variety of pollinators, including bees, butterflies, and hummingbirds, which helps boost the productivity of nearby vegetables and fruits. Their bright, long-lasting blooms provide color from summer through fall, and they’re incredibly easy to grow, thriving in hot, sunny spots with minimal care. Zinnias also act as a decoy plant, drawing pests like aphids away from more vulnerable crops. Plus, they make great cut flowers, adding beauty both in the garden and indoors, making them a vibrant, hardworking companion plant.
4. Lilac (Syringa vulgaris): Lilacs are a beautiful and beneficial addition to any garden thanks to their highly fragrant blooms, which attract essential pollinators like bees, butterflies, and hummingbirds in the spring. These hardy, long-lived shrubs provide seasonal interest, act as natural privacy screens or windbreaks, and require minimal maintenance once established. Their dense branching also offers shelter for birds and other beneficial wildlife. By planting lilacs, you not only enhance your garden’s aesthetic and scent but also support a thriving, pollinator-friendly ecosystem.
5. Cosmos (Cosmos bipinnatus): Cosmos are a wonderful asset to any garden because their bright, airy blooms attract a wide range of pollinators, including bees, butterflies, and hoverflies, which help boost pollination for fruits and vegetables. They're incredibly easy to grow, even in poor soil, and are drought-tolerant, making them perfect for low-maintenance gardening. Cosmos also act as a natural pest control by drawing in beneficial insects like lacewings and parasitic wasps that prey on common garden pests. With their long blooming season and delicate, daisy-like flowers, cosmos add beauty, biodiversity, and balance to any garden space.
6. Hollyhocks (Alcea rosea): Hollyhocks are such a beneficial addition to your garden, known for their tall, colorful flower spikes that attract pollinators like bees, butterflies, and hummingbirds, helping to boost the health and productivity of nearby plants. Their height makes them excellent for adding vertical interest, creating natural privacy screens, or serving as a backdrop in garden beds. Hollyhocks also support biodiversity by providing shelter and nectar for beneficial insects. Easy to grow and self-seeding, they come back year after year, making them a low-maintenance way to enhance both the beauty and ecological health of your garden.
7. Goldenrod (Solidago): Goldenrod is a highly beneficial plant for any garden because it provides a crucial late-season nectar source for bees, butterflies, and other pollinators when many other flowers have faded. Often misunderstood as a cause of allergies (which is actually ragweed), goldenrod is a native plant that supports a wide variety of beneficial insects, including predatory wasps and beetles that help control pests. It’s drought-tolerant, easy to grow, and contributes to soil health and biodiversity. By adding goldenrod to your garden, you’re supporting pollinators, boosting ecological balance, and adding vibrant golden color in the late summer and fall.
8. Sunflowers (Helianthus annuus): Sunflowers are a fantastic addition to any garden thanks to their ability to attract a wide range of pollinators, including bees, butterflies, and beneficial insects like ladybugs and lacewings. Their towering height and bold blooms create natural shade and windbreaks, while their deep roots help break up compacted soil and pull up nutrients for neighboring plants. Sunflowers also produce seeds that feed birds and wildlife, and their strong stems can act as natural trellises for climbing plants like beans. Beyond their ecological benefits, they add a cheerful visual impact and are easy to grow in most climates.
Be mindful where you place these - sunflowers produce a chemical through their roots called allelopathy, which can inhibit the growth of certain nearby plants like potatoes or beans. To avoid stunting your other crops, give sunflowers their own space along borders, fences, or in a dedicated pollinator section of your garden.
9. Wax Currant (Ribes cereum): Wax currants are highly beneficial to a garden because they are native, drought-tolerant shrubs that support local ecosystems while requiring very little maintenance. Their small, tubular flowers attract hummingbirds, bees, and other native pollinators in early spring, helping to kickstart pollination for the growing season. Later in the year, their berries provide food for birds and small mammals, making them an excellent choice for wildlife-friendly gardening. With their ability to thrive in poor soils and dry conditions, wax currants also help stabilize the soil and increase biodiversity, making them a valuable, low-effort addition to native or xeriscape gardens.
