Scarlet Beebalm— Hummingbird Heaven
The first in a series of gorgeous garden plants that are good for the environment! Let’s establish a pollinator garden full of beautiful native plants! (By request.)
A pollinator garden is designed to feed and house bees, hummingbirds, and butterflies throughout the year. They are often a joy to humans as well, with an emphasis on fragrant, showy blooms.
Pollinator gardens have become popular recently, and for good reason. Pollinators need pesticide-free and abundant blooms, and they’re not getting them. Yet, we depend on pollinators for 90% of flowering plant reproduction and 33% of human food crop pollination! (pollinator.org)
Scarlet Beebalm, or Monarda didyma, is a joy in a Maryland pollinator garden. It’s also known as Bergamot, Oswego Tea, or Crimson Beebalm. This perennial returns year after year (USDA) and requires very little maintenance to bring you large bright red flowers all summer long. Like all red plants, it’s best at attracting butterflies and hummingbirds. However, it will still interest bees! And, it’s native to the Eastern US! A must have plant for any pollinator garden.
Where it grows and how to recognize it
The plant itself likes damp, sunny to part-shade areas. It blooms the most in the sun. It likes loamy enriched soil, so fuss a bit over the soil for the best flower show.
It grows from two to five feet tall, and forms dense mats once established, thus crowding out weeds. It will return year after year, spreading each year.
After the flower blooms, it creates lovely and intricate seed-heads. The seeds can be collected and sown by sprinkling on damp ground to further propagate the plant. If you don’t, the wind will cause the seed head to sway on the stalk, shedding seeds on the ground. It’s not as efficient as a careful human, but it’s been getting the job done for quite a long time on it’s own, so let’s not knock it.
This plant is a member of the mint family and has a lovely, fragrant smell. The leaves are directly opposite each other on the tall stems and toothed.
Traditional uses and fun facts
The name Oswego Tea is apt. Per the USDA, this plant’s tender leaves and petals are good as tea and for salads. It is also often used in potpourri.
USDA also cites uses as a disinfectant, diuretic, and diaphoretic, stimulant, and astringent.
WebMD instructs you to use it as an ointment for aches and pains. To use to kill germs and reduce bleeding, make a tisane and soak.
This whole family of plants, the Monarda family, is very useful as medicine. Monarda is named after a 16th centiry Spanish physician, Nicholas Monardes, who published a number of books on medicinal plants (Virginia Native Plant Society). Pretty cool!
All in all, this is a useful and beautiful plant to have around.
