Spotted Horsemint
Monarda
Wild Bergamot/Beebalm
This genus was named after Dr. Nicolas Monardes, a Spanish physician whose Joyfull Newes Out of the New Founde Worlde was the first book to be published about the flora of the Americas. A summer-blooming member of the Mint family, everything about this plant is intriguing. Excellent in arrangements, its jaunty whorled blossoms and decorative bracts attract butterflies and hummingbirds, while holding our interest even in winter. Lining erect and robust stems, the opposite leaves are deliciously fragrant. An engaging addition to the border or a meadow setting, Bergamot offers pleasing contrast to the more undefined forms of the garden, as well as to the linear aspect of grasses. Happiest in moist fertile soil, Monarda’s dense clump needs to be divided every 2 to 3 years. Most of the cultivars exhibit outstanding resistance to powdery mildew.
Pollinators flock by the droves to unique, painterly whorled rosettes of yellowish, purple-speckled tubular flowers and large, pointed pale mauve and pink leaf-like bracts, which adorn the dense elongated spikes. Indigenous to the eastern U.S. from Long Island to Florida, Spotted Horsemint is an upright multistemmed perennial with sturdy violet-tinged stalks and toothed, tea-worthy oblong leaves, smelling like oregano. This marvelous deer-resistant native lends showy accents to bouquets, borders and butterfly gardens, where it craves sharp-draining sandy soil plus good air circulation and generally reseeds since it may be somewhat short-lived.
Blooms June–July
Size: 18" – 2' 0" high x 9" – 12" wide.
Hardy to zone 4.
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