What Pollinators You’ll See in Indiana This June

June is when Indiana gardens really come alive. The flowers are filling in. The weather is warming up. And almost overnight, a different cast of visitors starts working the beds and containers.

Here’s what you’ll see this month — and the plants pulling them in.

The monarchs are arriving from their spring migration, and the swallowtails won’t be far behind. Both go straight for plants that put out clusters of small, easy-to-land-on flowers.

Best plants for them:

• ✓ Monarch Magic Ageratum — bred specifically for pollinator appeal
• ✓ Lantana
• ✓ Verbena
• ✓ Zinnias
• ✓ Milkweed (the only host plant for monarch caterpillars)

Most of the pollinating in Indiana isn’t actually done by honeybees — it’s native bees and bumblebees. They love deep, tubular flowers they can crawl into and plants that bloom in waves through the season.

Best plants for them:

• ✓ Angelonia
• ✓ Salvia Mystical
• ✓ Nepeta (catmint)
• ✓ Rudbeckia
• ✓ Coneflowers

Ruby-throated hummingbirds are back in Indiana for the summer, and they’re drawn to red and orange tubular flowers more than anything else.

Best plants for them:

• ✓ Fuchsia (especially the trailing baskets)
• ✓ Salvia
• ✓ Cuphea
• ✓ Lantana
• ✓ Calibrachoa

Pollinator gardens don’t have to look wild. A lot of the annuals people already love — lantana, salvia, ageratum, calibrachoa, fuchsia — provide tremendous value to butterflies, bees, and hummingbirds. The most pollinator-friendly garden often looks identical to a regular landscape, with just a few intentional additions.

Reference: Purdue University Extension, Penn State Extension, Ball Seed industry reports — Indiana gardening resources