The Fragrant Orange-Flowering Tree That Attracts Pretty Hummingbirds & Butterflies

If you want to attract pretty hummingbirds and butterflies to your garden, growing shrubs and trees with beautiful flowers that are also highly scented will certainly do the trick. It's even better if the gorgeous perfume of these blooms fills the warm summer air and wafts gracefully around your yard. If you're a gardener in the more tropical USDA hardiness zones 10 through 11, you're in for a treat if you plant a particularly fragrant orange-flowering tree that will bring the hummers and butterflies to your yard in droves. This stunning tree is commonly known as the golden or orange champaca (Michelia champaca or Magnolia champaca), and is one of several trees that bloom with gorgeous orange flowers.

You might also see this remarkable tree referred to as the joy perfume tree because the essential oil derived from the highly fragrant blooms was used in a famous and very popular perfume, Joy by Jean Patou of Paris. Even to this day, the flowers are coveted as a sought-after scent by many niche perfumers. The orange champaca is native to south and southeast Asia and is regarded as sacred in many tropical Asian countries including India. While the tree can grow to a height of 30 feet in its native habitat, it's more common for it to only reach a height of around 20 feet in cultivation, making it perfect for an urban front or backyard. 

This marvelous tree has a straight trunk with smooth gray bark, and an attractive columnar growth habit. The pale green leaves are a slender elliptical shape, with a paler and hairy underside. While this alone makes the orange champaca an appealing addition to your yard, it's the striking flowers that will really make it shine. These delicate blossoms are orange-yellow and you'll find them among the leaf axils. They're generally only around 2 to 3 inches long, but their magnificent perfume can be enjoyed a few hundred feet away. After flowering, the tree produces interesting brown seed capsules that split open on one side to reveal around two to six reddish seeds.

If you want to grow this charming tree in your yard, choose a sunny spot that has moist, humus-rich, well-drained soil. Keep your tree well watered, especially during periods of no rainfall. Adding a layer of mulch around the base of the tree will help to hold some moisture in the soil. As this tree has a lovely, natural growth habit, it rarely requires pruning. So, you can just sit back, admire its blooms, languish in the gorgeously perfumed air, and watch those busy hummers and butterflies among the flowers. To add even more delight, you might want to explore other species of plants that will attract both hummingbirds and butterflies to your yard. Finally, if you live in a colder zone, there are other sweetly scented magnolia trees you can plant to help butterflies and pollinators thrive in your yard.