Fanciful jesters hats that Hummingbirds, bees, and butterflies cannot seem to keep away from, the Bee Balm plant (Monarda), also known as Wild Bergamot, Horsemint, and Oswego Tea, Bee Balms are an aromatic eastern North American native herb in the Mint family.
Growing into bushy, upright spreading clumps full of minty aromatic foliage, Bee Balm (sometimes one word - Beebalm) produces brightly colored, crown-like flowers in the late spring and summer that are a fan favorite for every bumble bee, honeybee, and native (solitary) bee around! Even butterflies and Hummingbirds will stop by to sip the individual tube-shaped florets that make up these fancy floral crowns!
These flowers can be red, pink, purple, or pale lavender, and mature plants can spout about 20-50 flowers each!
The square, rigid stems are lined with eaves in green to pale green and wonderfully scented. Growing two to three feet tall, depending on the variety. Fine hairs cover much of the stem and leaves, giving them a fuzzy appearance and feel.
Generally, Deer and rabbit-resistant, Bee Balm have few insect or disease issues! Spreading to form polite colonies by way of underground stolons, Monarda is wonderfully easy to grow!
Choosing The Right Bee Balm For You!
Bee Balm Plants grow between USDA planting zones 3 to 11 and can handle full sun and a touch of afternoon shade in a wide range of growing conditions.
Some of Nature Hills Top Bee Balm Favorites Include:
Sugar Buzz® Bee Balm
Bright fruity colors of Grape Gumball, Cherry Pops, Rockin Raspberry, and the dreamy Blue Moon, the Sugar Buzz® line of Bee Balm are saturated and colorful, these perennials are very uniform growth that stays about 2 feet tall and wide.
Native Bee Balm
The original native perennial that rambles and creeps through sunny prairie and meadow settings, these pale lavender to darker lavender blooms have a range in sizes and tones, Native Bee Balm is aromatic and hardy! Thriving throughout a wide range of growing zones, these are wonderfully easy-to-grow perennials.
Balmy™ Purple Bee Balm
Deeply saturated purple to violet blooms, Balmy™ Purple Monarda is a small 10-inch tall perennial with a dramatic super-sized presence! It bursts forth on the garden scene in late spring and continues its show into early summer. At a distance, the profuse blooms present a somewhat fuzzy appearance! There is also the Balmy™ Lilac Bee Balm that shows off with lilac-colored blooms.
Jacob Cline Bee Balm
Bold red blooms with long tubular florets, Jacob Cline Bee Balms are fragrant and begin to bloom in mid to late summer. They are deer and rabbit resistant and on top of all of that, Jacob Cline is one of the most mildew-resistant Bee Balms! Growing 3-4 feet in height, it is also one of the tallest of the Monarda!
Raspberry Wine Bee Balm
Raspberry-colored blooms that flower from July to August, both the flowers and the dark green foliage of the Raspberry Wine are fragrant, and ideal for potpourri, flower bouquets, and perfuming your garden-scapes! This Bee Balm is also a disease and mildew-resistant variety with a wide range of adaptability.
How To Use Bee Balm In Your Garden
Rely on these as a mainstay in your perennial border, children's and sensory gardens, and Cottage garden. Support your beneficial pollinators, bees, and butterflies!
Nectar-rich Monarda is a mainstay in Pollinator Gardens. This is also a great plant to include near your Victory Garden because of Bee Balm's ability to attract beneficial insects to your veggie patch or fruiting trees for a larger harvest and bring in predatory insects to keep pests at bay!
Plant Bee Balm in long, meandering ribbons as edging or backdrops, eye-catching groupings, or solitary specimen plantings! Go all out, and create massed plantings easily because of their spreading underground stolons that help them colonize areas where they are happy! Space them 12 inches apart, measuring from the center of one to the center of the next.
Simply add additional rows to cover a wider area, planted in a zigzagging, staggered pattern. Mulch between plants well and let them grow! Soon they will fill in and you’ll have a seamless bank of saturated color!
Grow Bee Balm in-ground, or used as dramatic "Fillers" and "Thrillers" in large, seasonal containers and sun-porch planters.
Caring For Bee Balm
Get your new Bee Balm off on the right foot with these simple tips, planting advice in our #ProPlantTips on growing and planting Perennials, and with Nature Hills Root Booster!
- Growing best in full sun, Bee Balm can handle a touch of afternoon shade
- These perennials do best in well-drained soil
- Thriving in any moist soil, rich in organic matter, and preferring alkaline soil conditions
- Tolerate well-draining heavy clay soil
- Water new plants regularly using the Finger Test to help them get established
- Create raised gardens or berms if you have poor drainage.
- Add 3-4 inches of mulch over the shallow, creeping rhizome-like root system
- Bee Balm plants can be cut back hard after the flowers fade to encourage rebloom
- Prune down Bee Balm in the fall and remove all stems and leaves from the site
- Provide plants with very good air circulation
- Divide plants every 3-5 years preventing centers from dying out
Like other members of the Mint Family, Bee Balm plants can be vigorous growers and need a well-thought-out location where they can’t get into trouble, but you can keep the plant contained by dividing it in either spring or fall.
Beautiful Bee-Friendly Bee Balm At NatureHills.com!
Fragrant fanciful flowers, aromatic fuzzy leaves, and spreading upright stems, Bee Balm plants are must-haves for your pollinator garden, cut flower borders, and wildflower beds!
Take a look at the entire inventory of these fanciful and fragrant flowering perennials and include some in your summer garden this year! Your bees will thank you!
Happy Planting!
