Bee-balm flowers, in the genus Monarda, are beautiful to look at and highly appreciated by bumblebees, butterflies and sphinx moths. I refer to them as royalty because of the way their flowers are elegantly arranged in a crownlike shape.
They are commonly called bee balm, wild bergamot and Oswego tea and they are the some of the showiest members of the mint family. They have square stems like all mints (although not all square-stemmed plants are mints), and the leaves also have a strong aroma when bruised, which is why they bear common names like basil-balm, Oswego tea and wild bergamot. True bergamot is a citrus fruit called bitter orange, and the leaves of several species of Monarda manufacture the same chemical. The scent would be familiar to tea drinkers as the flavoring in Earl Grey tea.
Another species is called wild basil because of the resemblance to its old world cousin, which we use to make pesto and other luscious foods. Common names are confused in different wildflower books, and I will use the ones I see most often when I talk about the various kinds. Unfortunately more than one species is called bee balm.
All of the bee balms and wild bergamot have flowers tightly clustered about their stem and facing outward like a crown. This allows hummingbirds, bumblebees and butterflies easy access to every flower. Each flower-head has a collar of leaflike bracts underneath, and in some species these leafy bracts are brightly colored like the flowers. If you look closely at the individual flower of a red, purple or white species you will see there are narrow filaments sticking out beyond the end of the flower’s tube. These are the sexual parts of the flower – anthers and pistil – and they are arranged so pollen is placed on top of the pollinator’s head.
The king of our summer wildflowers, in my opinion, is Oswego tea, (Monarda didyma), whose flowers are bright red. I feel like summer hasn’t really arrived until the Oswego tea is in full bloom, and it is one of my favorite garden plants. Oswego tea is the mainstay for young hummingbirds, which are just leaving the nest about now, and people, too. Red flowers usually are considered dependent on hummingbirds for pollination, but the flower shape isn’t exclusive for hummingbirds, because there is a lower lip that serves as a landing platform for insects that can’t hover and thus like to sit while sipping nectar. I often see bumblebees and swallowtail butterflies nectaring at it too.
The Monardas with purple, lavender and white flowers are very popular with bumblebees and butterflies with long tongues. A big patch of these can be a busy place on a sunny day as the nectaring insects come and go.
The purple-flowered monarda is also called bee balm, but more often it is called purple bergamot. This pretty species (Monarda media) is occasionally found locally. It also has colorful leafy bracts under its flower heads.
The lavender-flowered Monarda fistulosa, called wild bergamot or horsemint, is another garden plant I wouldn’t be without. It’s the species I see most in our area. Its flowers have a distinctive tuft of fuzz rising from the tip of each bloom, like a little upside-down lavender beard.
The white-flowered species, Monarda clinopoda, is called basil-balm, in addition to being called bee balm. If you rub or crush a leaf you can appreciate the similarity of its aroma to basil.
All of the Monardas make great garden plants. They are herbaceous perennials, meaning they live for many years, but they do die back to the ground for the winter. They will spread underground with their shallow root system and make a nice large patch in just a couple of years. If they spread into an area where you don’t want them, they are easy to dig out and transplant to another spot. A large patch provides a bountiful source of nectar to hummingbirds, bees and butterflies.
These are beautiful plants, but all of the bee balms are occasionally attacked by a gray fungus called powdery mildew, which can disfigure the leaves. It is especially bad in damp weather. It won’t kill the plants, but it can be unsightly. If the infection gets bad enough you may want to take some action. There are chemical treatments, but my wife Jan and I prefer to use an organic remedy by spraying a mixture of 1 tablespoon of horticultural oil (ultrafine oil), 1 tablespoon of baking soda and a few drops of dishwashing liquid mixed together with a gallon of water.
There are some selected horticultural varieties of Monarda for sale that are resistant to powdery mildew, and from what I have heard they are probably equal to the wild forms in their attractiveness to pollinating animals. So, don’t let this problem deter you from growing these plants in your garden. Monardas are worth growing for sure.
Mike Slater is a naturalist who lives in Brecknock Township, where he is an active member of the Mengel Natural History Society of Berks County and the Muhlenberg Botanic Society of Lancaster. He is also a member of the Baird Ornithological Club. Reach him at paplantings@gmail.com.
