The winner: Viburnum, 96/100. Tied for second at 93: Black‑eyed Susan, Mexican Sunflower, Scarlet Sage.
Butterflies vote with their tongues, not their eyes. Every plant here has documented butterfly visits from a university source; the ranking rewards nectar that lasts the whole flight season, a table wide enough to feed other wildlife, and heat that does not shut it down.
The picks
The flowers that won
The top score, plus the qualifier that asks least of you.
Nectar through the flight season: 6 months · Breadth of the wildlife table: 4 documented · Keeps nectar coming through hot spells: both: black walnut, clay soil, drought, heat, salt, urban, wet soil, wind
Flaws, not dealbreakers:no flaw on record
Deer: seldom damaged (Rutgers B)
96/ 100tap for the breakdown
Nectar through the flight season26 / 306 months
Breadth of the wildlife table25 / 254 documented
Keeps nectar coming through hot spells25 / 25both: black walnut, clay soil, drought, heat, salt, urban, wet soil, wind
Nectar through the flight season: 4 months · Breadth of the wildlife table: 4 documented · Keeps nectar coming through hot spells: both: clay soil, drought, heat, salt
Flaws, not dealbreakers:no flaw on record
Deer: seldom damaged (Rutgers B)
93/ 100tap for the breakdown
Nectar through the flight season23 / 304 months
Breadth of the wildlife table25 / 254 documented
Keeps nectar coming through hot spells25 / 25both: clay soil, drought, heat, salt
Care while it grows20 / 20low
Also great
Close behind on points. Neither beats the winner overall, but each is the better answer in a garden the winner would not suit.
Keeps nectar coming through hot spells25 / 25both: clay soil, drought, heat, sandy dry soil, wet soil
Care while it grows20 / 20low
The protocol
How the score is built
4 rules, 100 points, no opinions. Every line reads one field of the table.
Nectar through the flight season30 pointseight or more months 30; six to seven 26; four to five 23; three 15; two 8; one 4; no bloom data 8 Read from: the months it is in bloom.
Breadth of the wildlife table25 pointsfeeds four or more pollinator groups 25; three 19; two 12; butterflies alone 8 Read from: pollinator groups.
Keeps nectar coming through hot spells25 pointsdocumented for both drought and heat 25; drought only 18; heat only 12; neither 6; no data 10 Read from: stress tolerances.
Care while it grows20 pointslow upkeep 20; middling 11; demanding 3; sources disagree, we average the range; no rating 9 Read from: how much upkeep extension guides report.
Not ranked here: no whitelisted source documents butterfly visits.
The full method ↗
The leaderboard
The top ten
The 10 highest of 55 that qualified. Tap any score to open the lines behind it.
Keeps nectar coming through hot spells25 / 25both: drought, heat, poor soil, urban
Care while it grows12 / 20low, high (mean of range)
Considered, not chosen
Not qualifying is a verdict too: the table simply says this question is not theirs.
no whitelisted source documents butterfly visitsTulips, Hydrangea macrophylla, Irises and 27 more
The winner's badge
Generated by the ranking above, and re-scored whenever the table changes.
Viburnum
The badge is generated by this ranking, not awarded by hand. When the
table changes, it re-scores itself.
How we rank
We keep one table of 85 flowers,
with 25 documented facts each, drawn from university and extension sources. Every ranking is
a published formula worth 100 points; tap any score and it unfolds into the lines that made
it. A flower that does not fit the question is not scored lower: it is excluded, and the reason is
shown. When the table changes, every score and stamp updates itself.
The full method ↗
