Growing Monarda
This bee magnet will please you with bright flowers
Beier's Greenhouse carries a number of monarda varieties every year. This perennial is easy to grow, and it's not known as "Bee Balm" for nothing. Monarda is a member of the mint family.
- Grows best in full sun, but will tolerate light shade.
- Needs moist, rich soil. Amend your soil with compost or manure.
- Keep powdery mildew at bay by allowing good air circulation around plants.
- Keep monarda in check by digging up the root clump every spring and discarding the older, inner portion. Replant divisions 12-15 inches apart, throwing a little compost in the hole before covering.
- Cut the flowers right after they bloom to stimulate a second bloom.
- Prune monarda plants to within an inch of the ground in the fall.
- Fertilize in the spring with a good all-purpose fertilizer.
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Special Monthly Herb Feature: Bee Balm
Queen of the herbal teas
The first Sunday of each month is reserved solely for herbs. Today, we'll tell you about Bee Balm, also known as Oswego tea.* Bee Balm's smell is similar to bergamot, used in flavoring in Earl Gray tea, but actual bergamot comes from the tropical orange bergamot plant.
After the Boston Tea Party, people still needed something wonderful to drink, so they substituted bee balm. The herb is native to the Oswego, New York area, and is named for the Oswego Indians who inhabited the area before white settlers.
The best way to grow bee balm is from a plant. Seeds are notoriously hard to start. Once established, bee balm may be harvested at will, and should be transplanted or divided every second or third year. Share some plants with your neighbors!
All tea herbs can be used fresh as needed. The first harvest of bee balm can happen just before the plants flower, and the second just after. The flavor of the tea will differ between the two harvests.
The best way to dry the leaves is to strip them from the stems and dry in warm shade for 2-3 days. They may be finished in a low oven if needed. Longer drying will discolor the leaves and affect the final flavor.
Medicinally, an infusion of bee balm is used for sore throats and colds. It's a mild stimulant and soothes the digestion. In the kitchen, use bee balm leaves to flavor apple jelly, fruit cups, and salads.
If you like this monthly herbal feature, please tell us what you think at beiersgreenhouse@beiersgreenhouse.com. If there's enough interest in this feature, we could expand it to a weekly! Thanks so much for reading all our emails.
*We're gathering information from many sources to tell you about herbs in this feature. One is the Rodale Herb Book edited by William H. Hylton. Copyright 1974 by Rodale Press.
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