Scarlet Bee Balm (Monarda didyma)

Scarlet Bee Balm (Monarda didyma)

Monarda didyma, more commonly known as Scarlet Bee Balm, Crimson Beebalm, Scarlet Monarda, Oswego tea, or just Bergamot, is an especially aromatic herb in the mint family Lamiaceae.

Scarlet Bee Balm is native to eastern North America from Maine west to Ontario and Minnesota, and south to northern Georgia. Its enticing scent is like that of the bergamot orange (used to flavor Earl Grey tea). In fact, you can make tea from it!

This stunning plant is well known for its ability to attract hummingbirds and is a larval host to the Hermit Sphinx, Orange Mint Moth, and the Raspberry Pyrausta.

As with its purple cousin and also native Bee Balm, commonly named Wild Bergamot (Monarda fistulosa), and Scarlet Bee Balm have a long history of use as a medicinal plant by many Indigenous peoples. The Blackfoot people recognized this plant's strong antiseptic action, and used poultices of the plant for skin infections and minor wounds.

It can be made into an herbal, and also used to treat mouth and throat infections caused by dental caries and gingivitis. Monarda is the natural source of the antiseptic thymol, used as the primary active ingredient in modern commercial mouthwash formulas.

The Winnebago people used an herbal tea made from bee balm as a stimulant. It was also used as a carminative herb by Indigenous Americans to treat excessive flatulence. Most famously The Indigenous Americans of what is now Oswego, New York, made the leaves into a tea, giving it one of its more common names.

This plant is considered present, native but rare in several counties of the states of Michigan, New Jersey, and South Carolina.

This plant is present and introduced in Minnesota, Iowa, Illinois, Wisconsin, Indiana, Kentucky, Alabama, Connecticut, Rhode Island, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and Maine.

*photography credit and copyright to Angie Kae for use of her photos of Scarlet Bee Balm.

Plant Details:

USDA Zones: 4-9

Germination Needs: No special treatment needed

Life Cycle: Perennial

Sun Exposure: Full to Partial

Soil Moisture: Medium-Wet, Medium

Plant Spacing: 1½ feet

Height: 3 - 5 feet

Bloom Time: June, July, August

Bloom Color: Red

Advantages

Pollinator Favorite: hummingbirds, butterflies, moths, bees, wasps, beetles

Bird Favorite: seeds, insects, fruit, nectar, nesting, perchs.

Deer Resistant: Yes

Native and/or present in : Wisconsin, Minnesota, Iowa, Illinois, Missouri, Indiana, Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania, New York, Vermont, New Hampshire, Maine, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, Delaware, Maryland, New Jersey, West Virginia, Virginia, Kentucky, Tennessee, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, and Alabama.

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Packet quantities:

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Large seed species will contain greater than 10-15 seed

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