Bees love flowers. They collect both the nectar and pollen from flowers in order to produce honey and feed their young. As long as you have flowers in your garden, you will likely have bees. However, bees do prefer certain types of flowers, while other animal pollinators, such as butterflies and birds, prefer others.
Knowing what types of flowers bees prefer will help guide you in your choices. Bees have color preferences. They don't see red, and prefer flowers that are yellow, blue or violet. They like flowers such as coneflowers (Echinacea spp.), U.S. Department of Agriculture plant hardiness zones 3 through 9, which have flatter "landing strips" that make it easy for bees to get to the flowers. Flowers that attract bees tend to smell sweeter and have an abundance of nectar and sticky pollen.
Hummingbirds are avid pollinators that are attracted to very different flowers than bees. They love brightly colored, and especially red, flowers that don't tend to smell as strongly. Hummingbirds don't need a landing pad, as they hover in midair to collect nectar. They also have long beaks, so they can reach the nectar in deep, tubular flowers that bees avoid. Examples of hummingbird-friendly flowers include columbines (Columbine aquilegia spp.), USDA zones 3 through 9, and fuchsia (Fuchsia magellanica), USDA zones 6 through 9.
Butterflies prefer bright, showy flowers. They have long tongues, so, like hummingbirds, they are attracted to tubular flowers with lots of nectar. They can't hover, however, so they need somewhere to land, and often choose flowers that grow in clusters. Favorite flowers include blood flowers (Asclepias curassavica), USDA zones 8 through 11, and butterfly bush (Buddleja davidii), USDA zones 5 through 10.
Most moths are nocturnal and are attracted to paler flowers than butterflies, as well as flowers that have a strong scent -- which is sometimes only emitted at night. The yucca plant (Yucca spp.), USDA zones 5 through 10, is an excellent example of a moth-friendly flower, as are gardenias (Gardenia spp.), USDA zones 8 through 10.
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