Use seed-starting trays or small pots filled with damp, good-quality seed starting mix. The best method for most gardeners is to start your seeds indoors about 8 weeks before your last average spring frost date. They also make lovely cut flowers and are deer resistant, which is even more reason to grow this beneficial plant. When crushed, the leaves also repel mosquitos, which can be very useful!īee balm flowers are edible as well and can be added to tea or used as a garnish. The leaves of bee balm can be harvested to make a fragrant, slightly minty herbal bee balm tea that has been used to aid digestion and strengthen immune health in traditional medicine. In the fall and early winter, song birds, like finches, will show up to feed on the seed heads left behind when the plants fade. It attracts a range of bees, butterflies, moths, and hummingbirds during the summer months.
There’s no doubt that bee balm is a favorite with pollinators and birds. It will struggle the most in hot, dry areas but is otherwise very hardy. Most gardeners in USDA hardiness zones 3-9 can have success growing bee balm. As a member of the mint family, bee balm has the characteristic square stems familiar in other mint plants. The plants have whorled blooms that develop on long stems and come in shades of red, purple, white, and pink.
Growing native plants is an easy way to make your garden pollinator-friendly.īee balm normally grows 3-4’ feet tall, but there are now dwarf cultivars that top out at 10-15”. Bee balm plants naturally in woodland and meadow areas and has become a staple cottage garden plant, although newer varieties are also suited to urban gardens. All About Bee Balm: A Native Pollinator PlantĪll About Bee Balm: A Native Pollinator Plantīee balm ( Monarda spp.) is a perennial plant native to North America.
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