What's blooming now in your yard for hummingbirds and butterflies? It's early for many perennials in my yard. I'm in zone 6 or maybe 6b in southwest Missouri.

For hummingbirds I have a red buckeye that's just finishing blooming and red honeysuckle that's still blooming but not nearly as heavily as it was a few weeks ago. I have a few coral bells with pink flowers (unknown variety) but I'm not sure the hummingbirds use those. It's too early for my salvia Black and Blue or other salvias so I think I need something to fill the gap.

For butterflies - Verbena canadensis started blooming in March for me this year and still blooming. It will bloom off and on until frost. I wish there were more perennials like that. lol
My echinacea is very close to blooming (Cheyenne Spirit)
My butterfly's favorite right now is Chrysalis Cranberry butterfly bush that I purchased this year. I haven't had butterfly bushes for several years. It's supposed to be nearly sterile but the verdict is still out. It had three butterflies on it when I bought it so I couldn't resist. I confess I bought two. I put one in the ground and one in a large container. (It's a dwarf variety). If it comes back next year, I assume it won't bloom as early.
My orange milkweed and purple milkweed have buds but no flowers yet.
Waiting on lots of zinnia, tithonia and cosmos seedlings to bloom but it will be at least 2 or 3 weeks for those.
I think I need some more early bloomers, ideally long blooming. What's blooming in your yard?

My hummingbird sage has been blooming for over a month now in the front - the hummers have been busy with them. Same with the catmints and ice plants.

One of the butterfly bushes has been blooming in the back for about that long.

My various poker plants are starting to bloom. The lello and midnight sages are currently blooming.

My lion's tails all have their balls started, they should bloom by next month and the lavenders are thinking about it.

The bottlebrushes are all blooming but are still small.

The California fuchsias will kick in this summer.

Not sure when I'll see blooms out of the coral yuccas or the turk's caps.

I have a few perennial salvias that have been blooming for a few weeks now... Salvia Nemorosa Rose Marvel, Salvia May Night. One that will start blooming soon is Salvia Nemorosa Violet Riot. I've got a nice vine up front blooming as well, Major Wheeler's Honeysuckle.

I also plant a lot of containers with various annual salvias (annual for my zone), Cardinal Climber vines and Spanish Flag. But one thing I found that attracts the male hummers early is buying those annual salvias as soon as possible and just having them sit in the backyard. Even in the small nursery containers, the hummers find them and feed from them often until I get the containers all set up.

My Tithonia 'Torch' plants are the big butterfly draw here these days. This Gulf Frittilary is here almost every day, but I briefly saw a Tiger Swallowtail on one of these flowers yesterday, too. Lots of nectar, I guess.

Not much in my yard but a billion blooms on a native honeysuckle with red flowers. Has been since about when hummers began to be sighted around my area. At least 3 weeks ago.

Glad you mentioned annual Salvia, my blue perennial isn't blooming yet but once started it is well used by bees and hummers.
Last plant I saw visited by butterflies at the nursery was Lantana.

What a beautiful picture of tithonia 'Torch'. That's the same variety I have planted this year but mine are barely two inches tall and won't be blooming for awhile. Gulf Frittilaries rarely make it this far north. I haven't seen one for a few years.
I noticed yesterday that my Indian Pinks are close to blooming.
I'm trying sulfur cosmos this year. I'm growing both red and orange but those are only a couple inches tall right now too.
I bought a couple four packs of profusion zinnias and also planted some from saved seeds. I saw a few butterflies visiting those last year. I don't think they like them as well as the taller zinnias but it's in front of a retaining wall where I wanted something short. Maybe next year I will splurge and just buy a bunch of four packs so they will be blooming earlier.

Great picture Elaine, I used to have Tithonia 'Torch' in my garden, I guess one of the cold snaps took it out. I haven't seen the Gulf Frits here yet, however seeing many Black Swallowtail, this one the other day on my Tall Red Penta lanceolata. Had my first Zebra Longwing lay eggs on my Lady Margaret Passiflora vine.

Still waiting on most things to bloom in my yard but these two are the main attractors right now.
Orange butterfly weed, a. tuberosa. I have some with light orange flowers that are blooming but some others that will have dark orange flowers that don't even have buds yet.


and purple milkweed, (a. purpurascens) which hadn't bloomed since 2020 after after a struggle with near death for a few years. I'm very happy about its comeback.