In addition to butterflies, there are many insects that are a joy to have in the garden and a reason to grow pollinator and insect attracting plants.
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Penstemon havardii
Item #: 18347
Zones: 5b to 9b, at least
Dormancy: Evergreen
Height: 72" tall
Culture: Sun to Part Sun
Origin: United States
Pot Size: 3.5" pot (24 fl. oz/0.7 L)
Regular price $21.00Regular priceUnit price perSale price $21.00 -
Penstemon multicaulis
Item #: 12474
Zones: 5b to 9b, at least
Dormancy: Winter
Height: 18" tall
Culture: Sun to Part Sun
Origin: United States
Pot Size: 3.5" pot (24 fl. oz/0.7 L)
Regular price $22.00Regular priceUnit price perSale price $22.00 -
Penstemon ovatus
Item #: 11361
Zones: 4a to 8a
Dormancy: Winter
Height: 24" tall
Culture: Part Sun to Light Shade
Origin: Canada, United States
Pot Size: 3.5" pot (24 fl. oz/0.7 L)
Regular price $22.00Regular priceUnit price perSale price $22.00 -
Penstemon smallii
Item #: 1414
Zones: 4a to 8b
Dormancy: Evergreen
Height: 18" tall
Culture: Sun to Light Shade
Origin: United States
Pot Size: 3.5" pot (24 fl. oz/0.7 L)
Regular price $21.00Regular priceUnit price perSale price $21.00 -
Penstemon tenuis
Item #: 15423
Zones: 7a to 9b, possibly much colder
Dormancy: Evergreen
Height: 30" tall
Culture: Sun to Part Sun
Origin: United States
Pot Size: 3.5" pot (24 fl. oz/0.7 L)
Regular price $21.00Regular priceUnit price perSale price $21.00 -
Sold outPenstemon triflorus 'Uvalde'
Item #: 7633
Zones: 6a to 8b, at least
Dormancy: Winter
Height: 18" tall
Culture: Sun
Origin: United States
Pot Size: 3.5" pot (24 fl. oz/0.7 L)
Regular price $23.00Regular priceUnit price perSale price $23.00Next crop available: 06/19/2026Sold out -
Perovskia atriplicifolia 'Blue Jean Baby' PP 29,281
Item #: 13502
Zones: 4a to 8b, possibly colder
Dormancy: Winter
Height: 34" tall
Culture: Sun
Origin: Afghanistan, China, Himalayan Mountains, Pakistan, Turkey
Pot Size: 3.5" pot (24 fl. oz/0.7 L)
Regular price $21.00Regular priceUnit price perSale price $21.00 -
Perovskia atriplicifolia 'Prime Time' PP 34,304
Item #: 18339
Zones: 4a to 8b, possibly colder
Dormancy: Winter
Height: 30" tall
Culture: Sun
Origin: Afghanistan, China, Himalayan Mountains, Pakistan, Turkey
Pot Size: 3.5" pot (24 fl. oz/0.7 L)
Regular price $21.00Regular priceUnit price perSale price $21.00 -
Phlox 'Bedazzled Lavender' PP 31,168
Item #: 14269
Zones: 4a to 7b
Dormancy: Evergreen
Height: 4" tall
Culture: Sun
Origin: United States Hybrid
Pot Size: 3.5" pot (24 fl. oz/0.7 L)
Regular price $21.00Regular priceUnit price perSale price $21.00 -
Phlox divaricata 'Blue Ribbons' PP 34,928
Item #: 13029
Zones: 3a to 8a
Dormancy: Evergreen
Height: 6" tall
Culture: Part Sun to Light Shade
Origin: United States
Pot Size: 3.5" pot (24 fl. oz/0.7 L)
Regular price $21.00Regular priceUnit price perSale price $21.00Sold out -
Phlox paniculata 'John Fanick'
Item #: 7383
Zones: 3a to 9b
Dormancy: Winter
Height: 36" tall
Culture: Sun to Part Sun
Origin: United States
Pot Size: 3.5" pot (24 fl. oz/0.7 L)
Regular price $21.00Regular priceUnit price perSale price $21.00 -
Phlox paniculata 'Opalescence' PP 33,295
Item #: 17114
Zones: 5a to 9b, at least
Dormancy: Winter
Height: 36" tall
Culture: Sun
Origin: United States
Pot Size: 3.5" pot (24 fl. oz/0.7 L)
Regular price $21.00Regular priceUnit price perSale price $21.00 -
Phlox paniculata 'Thai Pink Jade' PP 22,961
Item #: 13504
Zones: 5a to 9b, at least
Dormancy: Winter
Height: 48" tall
Culture: Sun
Origin: United States
Pot Size: 3.5" pot (24 fl. oz/0.7 L)
Regular price $21.00Regular priceUnit price perSale price $21.00 -
Sold outPhlox stolonifera 'Vivien'
Item #: 14599
Zones: 3a to 8b
Dormancy: Evergreen
Height: 6" tall
Culture: Part Sun to Light Shade
Origin: United States
Pot Size: 3.5" pot (24 fl. oz/0.7 L)
Regular price $22.00Regular priceUnit price perSale price $22.00Next crop available: 06/26/2026Sold out -
Sold outPhlox subulata 'Candy Stripe'
Item #: 1419
Zones: 3a to 9b
Dormancy: Evergreen
Height: 6" tall
Culture: Sun
Origin: United States
Pot Size: 3.5" pot (24 fl. oz/0.7 L)
Regular price $21.00Regular priceUnit price perSale price $21.00Sold out -
Phyla nodiflora 'Ramble On'
Item #: 17820
Zones: 7b to 10b
Dormancy: Evergreen
Height: 1" tall
Culture: Sun
Origin: United States
Pot Size: 3.5" pot (24 fl. oz/0.7 L)
Regular price $20.00Regular priceUnit price perSale price $20.00 -
Physostegia virginiana 'Pink Manners' PP 23,482
Item #: 9456
Zones: 3a to 8b, at least
Dormancy: Winter
Height: 48" tall
Culture: Sun
Origin: United States
Pot Size: 3.5" pot (24 fl. oz/0.7 L)
Regular price $22.00Regular priceUnit price perSale price $22.00 -
Sold outPhytolacca americana 'Sunny Side Up'
Item #: 9103
Zones: 5a to 9b
Dormancy: Winter
Height: 84" tall
Culture: Sun to Part Sun
Origin: United States
Pot Size: 3.5" pot (24 fl. oz/0.7 L)
Regular price $22.00Regular priceUnit price perSale price $22.00Next crop available: 06/19/2026Sold out -
Podophyllum x boreiforme 'Standing Tall'
Item #: 13665
Zones: 5a to 8b, at least
Dormancy: Winter
Height: 42" tall
Culture: Part Sun to Shade
Origin: Hybrid
Pot Size: 3.5" pot (24 fl. oz/0.7 L)
Regular price $38.00Regular priceUnit price perSale price $38.00 -
Podophyllum pleianthum
Item #: 1621
Zones: 5b to 8b, at least
Dormancy: Winter
Height: 24" tall
Culture: Light Shade to Shade
Origin: China
Pot Size: 3.5" pot (24 fl. oz/0.7 L)
Regular price $35.00Regular priceUnit price perSale price $35.00 -
Podophyllum pleianthum 'Tai Wedding'
Item #: 3133
Zones: 5b to 8b, at least
Dormancy: Winter
Height: 24" tall
Culture: Part Sun to Light Shade
Origin: Taiwan
Pot Size: 3.5" pot (24 fl. oz/0.7 L)
Regular price $33.00Regular priceUnit price perSale price $33.00 -
Podophyllum x plereale
Item #: 17434
Zones: 5a to 8b, at least
Dormancy: Winter
Height: 24" tall
Culture: Part Sun to Shade
Origin: China
Pot Size: 3.5" pot (24 fl. oz/0.7 L)
Regular price $35.00Regular priceUnit price perSale price $35.00 -
Sold outPodophyllum 'Spotty Dotty'
Item #: 6301
Zones: 5a to 8b
Dormancy: Winter
Height: 18" tall
Culture: Light Shade to Shade
Origin: Hybrid
Pot Size: 3.5" pot (24 fl. oz/0.7 L)
Regular price $42.00Regular priceUnit price perSale price $42.00Next crop available: 07/03/2026Sold out -
Sold outPodophyllum versipelle ssp. boreale
Item #: 1548
Zones: 5a to 8b, at least
Dormancy: Winter
Height: 36" tall
Culture: Part Sun to Shade
Origin: China
Pot Size: 3.5" pot (24 fl. oz/0.7 L)
Regular price $35.00Regular priceUnit price perSale price $35.00Next crop available: 06/26/2026Sold out
More Information About Insect Attracting Plants
What's the buzz on pollinator and insect attracting plants for the garden? There are two reasons a gardener would want to garden with insect attracting plants. The number one reason is that beneficial insects help control insect pests and reduce or eliminate your need to spray insecticides. Number two is to enjoy the aesthetic, aural and kinetic beauty of our arthropod friends.
Insects in the garden are looking for the same thing that we are...attractive flowers and leaves. Here at Plant Delights Nursery, we have an enormous on-line plant catalog and have searched through it to create this mini-catalog of insect attracting plants that also look great in the landscape.
The iridescent metallic blues and greens of dragonflies, blowflies and, yes, even japanese beetles are stunning to look at. So are the saturated reds, oranges, and yellows that can be seen in ladybugs, harlequin bugs, and orb web weaver spiders. The predatory antics of lacewings, dragonflies, spiders and praying mantis are amazing to watch. The angular chitonous plates of grasshoppers and stink bugs are a visual treat for the sharp-eyed gardener as are the amusing ambulations of inchworms and the undulations of colorful hirsute caterpillars munching on leaves or earthworms, freshly dug.
During summer, the early evening staccato light show of lightening bugs brings a miniature fireworks show into the back yard. In fall, a careful gardener will find the curious egg cases of praying mantis and butterflies dangling in hidden spots on the undersides of insect attracting plants in the garden...a gift to be opened the following spring.
The auditory buzz of an orgy of fat bumble bees on flowering plants that attract bees like lantana or buddleia is both relaxing and smile inducing as are the melodious droning songs of mate-seeking crickets and cicadas. Who can sleep without their summer nighttime serenades? All are great reasons to fill your garden with insect attracting plants.
Check out our blog entries about plants that attract bees and flowers that attract butterflies.
























