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If you’ve ever watched a hummingbird hover at a flower or a butterfly land on a bloom, you know the thrill. There’s something magical about inviting wildlife into your space — and this container recipe is designed to do exactly that.

We’re calling it the Hummingbird & Butterfly Magnet, and it features plants that pollinators can’t resist. This design sold out at Sunnyside Gardens in one weekend, and for good reason: it’s beautiful, it’s easy to care for, and it brings life to your patio in a way few other containers can.

Place it near a window, next to your favorite outdoor chair, or anywhere you like to spend time. Then sit back and enjoy the buzz of hummingbirds darting between blooms and butterflies resting on the petals. It’s a front-row seat to nature — right in your own backyard.

Why This Design Works for Pollinators

Hummingbirds and butterflies are drawn to specific colors, shapes, and nectar sources. Understanding what they’re looking for helps you design containers that attract them reliably all summer long.

What Hummingbirds Love

• Color matters: Hummingbirds are drawn to red, orange, pink, and purple flowers because their specialized vision identifies these shades as indicators of high-sucrose nectar sources. Red is especially effective at catching their attention from a distance.
• Trumpet-shaped flowers: Hummingbirds have long, needle-thin beaks and tongues designed to reach deep into tubular flowers. Trumpet-shaped blooms are perfect for their feeding style and often produce the nectar-rich rewards they’re searching for.
• Continuous blooms: Hummingbirds need to feed constantly (they consume half their body weight in sugar daily), so containers with plants that bloom all season long keep them coming back.

What Butterflies Love

• Flat or clustered flowers: Butterflies need a landing platform. They’re drawn to flowers with flat tops or tight clusters where they can perch while feeding.
• Bright colors: Like hummingbirds, butterflies are attracted to bright, vivid colors — especially pink, purple, red, orange, and yellow.
• Nectar-rich blooms: Butterflies seek out flowers with accessible nectar. Plants like lantana, verbena, and salvia are butterfly magnets.

This container recipe combines all of these elements — color, shape, nectar, and landing platforms — to create a pollinator paradise in one pot.

The Recipe: Hummingbird & Butterfly Magnet

What You’ll Need

• Container: 10–12 inch diameter pot with drainage holes
• Soil: High-quality potting mix
• Location: Full sun (6+ hours of direct sunlight)

The Plants

• Red Mandevilla (Mandevilla spp.) — Thriller
  Large, trumpet-shaped red blooms on climbing vines. Hummingbirds love the color and the shape — this is the star of the show.
• Pink Salvia (Salvia spp.) — Thriller/Filler
  Tall spikes of tubular pink (or blue) flowers that hummingbirds and butterflies both adore. Adds vertical interest and blooms nonstop all summer. Blue salvia works beautifully too if you prefer cooler tones.
• Heliotrope (Heliotropium arborescens) — Filler
  Clusters of fragrant purple flowers with a sweet, vanilla-like scent. Butterflies love the flat flower clusters, and the deep purple adds richness to the design.
• Verbena (Verbena spp.) — Spiller
  Trailing stems covered in clusters of small flowers. Butterflies land on the flat flower heads to feed, and the trailing habit softens the container edges.
• Red Petunia (Petunia spp.) — Spiller
  Bold red blooms that trail over the edges. The trumpet shape attracts hummingbirds, and the vibrant color draws them in from a distance.
• Lantana (Lantana camara) — Filler/Spiller
  Multi-colored flower clusters that butterflies and hummingbirds both love. Lantana blooms continuously and tolerates heat beautifully.

How to Assemble Your Container

1. Prep Your Container
   Fill your pot about two-thirds full with high-quality potting mix. Make sure the container has drainage holes — soggy soil will cause root rot.
2. Anchor with the Red Mandevilla
   Place the red mandevilla at the back center of the pot. If your mandevilla comes with a small trellis or support stake, leave it in place or add your own obelisk for the vine to climb. This is your tallest plant and the focal point of the design.
3. Add Height with Salvia
   Plant the pink (or blue) salvia alongside the mandevilla, slightly to one side. This adds vertical interest and balances the height of the mandevilla without competing with it.
4. Nestle in the Heliotrope
   Place the heliotrope in the center or slightly off-center, nestled between the taller plants. This creates balance and fills the middle layer of the design with its rich purple blooms.
5. Spill Over the Edges
   Plant the verbena, red petunia, and lantana around the edges of the container, spacing them evenly. These trailing and mounding plants will spill over the sides, soften the container edges, and create a full, lush look.
6. Fill in Gaps and Water Thoroughly
   Add more potting mix around the plants, filling in any gaps and firming gently. Water thoroughly until water drains from the bottom of the pot.

Care Instructions

Sunlight

Full sun (6+ hours of direct sunlight daily). This container thrives in heat and bright light.

Watering

Water when the top 1–2 inches of soil feel dry. During hot summer days, you may need to water daily. Containers dry out faster than garden beds, so check regularly.

Feeding

Feed weekly with a liquid fertilizer formulated for blooming plants. This keeps flowers coming all season long.

Deadheading

Pinch off spent blooms on the petunias and salvia to encourage more flowers. Mandevilla, verbena, lantana, and heliotrope are mostly self-cleaning but benefit from occasional tidying.

Placement

Place your container in a sunny spot near a window, patio seating area, or anywhere you spend time outdoors. The closer you are, the better you’ll be able to watch the hummingbirds and butterflies visit.

What to Expect

Within days of placing this container in the sun, you’ll start to see visitors. Hummingbirds will dart in and hover at the mandevilla and salvia blooms. Butterflies will land on the lantana, verbena, and heliotrope to feed. If you’re lucky, you might even see multiple hummingbirds competing for the same blooms — they’re fiercely territorial and incredibly fun to watch.

This container blooms continuously from late spring through fall, providing nectar for pollinators throughout the entire growing season. It’s a living, buzzing focal point that brings your outdoor space to life in a way few other plantings can.

Make It Your Own

This recipe is a guide, not a rule. Want more color? Swap the pink salvia for blue or purple. Prefer all-red blooms? Use red verbena and red lantana instead of pink or orange. Love fragrance? Add a trailing sweet alyssum around the edges.

The key is keeping the elements that pollinators love: bright colors (especially red, pink, purple, orange), trumpet-shaped flowers for hummingbirds, and flat or clustered blooms for butterflies.

Share Your Visitors

When your hummingbirds and butterflies start showing up (and they will), snap a photo and tag us @sunnysidegardensmn on Instagram or Facebook. We love seeing your containers come to life — and we love seeing the pollinators that come to visit even more.