Good pollinators plants for Tucson, zone 9

[Piratejimmy]

I've had issues over the years of attracting bees, butterflies or birds into my garden. Everything I read has just confused me so I am hoping someone can give me a real life guide as to what I can plant, in ground, in pots or wherever to attract more pollinators. Tucson has some harsh temps from May until October so I could really use some help in finding stuff that can handle that heat and sun. Any help is greatly appreciated. Thanks

[Asica]

I plant marigold flowers. They are small and easy to get seeds from for the next year.

[imafan26]

Follow this link to pollinator.org. It will help you find native plants that are good pollinators for your area.

http://www.pollinator.org/guides.htm

Scented plants with small open flowers attract bees. Sweet alyssum, basil, corn tassels, sunflowers, most of the composites zinnias, marigolds, calendula. They like yellow and blue flowers. They don't see red well
Butterflies like butterfly weed and budleia. They also love anything in the cabbage family like kale or broccoli. Butterflies are attracted to tubular flowers and can see red. Plants like sage attract both bees and butterflies.

[Taiji]

I'll second the sage suggestion. Russian sage is very popular around here. Whenever I walk by a plant it's covered with bees. I recently purchased 4 for myself. They will be about 25-30 feet from the garden. I don't know if it does well in zone 9.
In my situation, the criteria for planting something are drought tolerance, poor soil tolerance, and if unprotected, nothing eats it.

[catgrass]

Zinnias, sunflowers. Tithonia (mexican sunflower)does well in hot and dry. It can make a large bush, though, so be careful where you plant it. Any of the sages, salvia.

[imafan26]

If you want to attract monarchs. Their food source is almost exclusively milkweeds. Some states are trying to eradicate milkweeds and so there has been a marked decline in butterflies in some parts of the country. If your state allows it butterfly weed and crown flower will definitely attract them.
http://monarchwatch.org/bring-back-the- ... e-details/