The winner: Mexican Sunflower, 100/100. Tied for second at 97: Daylily, Marigolds, Morning Glories.
Every flower here is scored by the same 5 published rules, using one open table of 85 flowers. No taste, no sponsors: tap any score and it unfolds into the lines that made it.
The picks
The flowers that won
The top score, plus the qualifier that asks least of you.
Bloom window: 5 months · Hummingbird color signal: blue, pink, purple, lavender, red, white · Cold-zone reach: 2 to 11
Flaws, not dealbreakers:toxic to cats
Deer: sometimes eaten (Rutgers C)Not for cat households
97/ 100tap for the breakdown
Bloom window30 / 305 months
Hummingbird color signal25 / 25blue, pink, purple, lavender, red, white
Cold-zone reach20 / 202 to 11
Set-and-forget upkeep15 / 15low
Moisture flexibility7 / 10medium
The protocol
How the score is built
5 rules, 100 points, no opinions. Every line reads one field of the table.
Bloom window30 pointsblooms 4+ months a year 30; 3 months 22; 2 months 14; a single month 6 Read from: the months it is in bloom.
Hummingbird color signal25 pointsred or orange blooms, the colors hummingbirds cue on 25; any other palette, still documented as visited 10 Read from: flower color.
Cold-zone reach20 pointshardy to zone 4 or colder, feeds more of the migration corridor 20; zone 5 15; zone 6 10; warmer than zone 6 5 Read from: the zones it survives.
Set-and-forget upkeep15 pointslow maintenance 15; medium 8; high-maintenance 0 Read from: how much upkeep extension guides report.
Moisture flexibility10 pointstolerates a dry spell 10; steady moisture 7; needs wet feet 3-4 Read from: how much water it wants.
Not ranked here: not documented as attracting hummingbirds. Scores are never sponsored
and never sold. The full method ↗
The leaderboard
The top ten
The 10 highest of 39 that qualified. Tap any score to open the lines behind it.
Hummingbird color signal10 / 25blue, purple, lavender
Cold-zone reach20 / 204 to 9
Set-and-forget upkeep15 / 15low
Moisture flexibility10 / 10dry to medium soil
Considered, not chosen
Not qualifying is a verdict too: the table simply says this job is not theirs.
not documented as attracting hummingbirdsRoses, Tulips, Peonies and 43 more
The winner's badge
Generated by the ranking above, and re-scored whenever the table changes.
Mexican Sunflower
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 a job is not scored lower: it is excluded, and the reason is
named. Nothing here is sponsored, and no score can be bought. When the table changes, every
score and stamp updates itself.
The full method ↗
