Bee balm (monarda)
Monarda didyma L.
Botanical family: Lamiaceae
The genus Monarda (Lamiaceae) brings together perennials of North America, including Monarda didyma, scarlet bee balm, with bright red pompoms, and Monarda fistulosa, wild bee balm or 'wild bergamot' of the prairies, with mauve flowers. Crush a leaf between your fingers: its scent recalls the citrus of bergamot, hence this nickname.
Sun to partial shade
Rich, cool, humus-rich
Regular, the soil must not dry out
Very hardy perennial (USDA hardiness zone 4 to 9)
Overwinters in your zone
Role in permaculture
A great nectar plant: its pompom flowers, with tubular corollas, are cut out for long-tongued foragers, bees, bumblebees, butterflies, and hummingbirds in its native North American range (absent from Europe). Its generous silhouette and aromatic foliage make it a safe bet as a vegetable-garden edging or in a flowering meadow.
Good companions
Traditional companion planting (benefit not demonstrated)
Insects attracted or useful
Seasons & availability
A perennial rich in nectar: leaves are picked from May to October, and the pompom flowers from July to September; dried, leaves and flowers keep for infusions the rest of the year.
Available: January, February, March, April, May, June, July, August, September, October, November, December.
Guidance for the oceanic / temperate climate; it may vary with your region, altitude, exposure and growing method.
Sources
- Plants For A Future, « Monarda didyma » (pfaf.org/user/Plant.aspx?LatinName=Monarda+didyma)
- Ministère de l'Agriculture de l'Ontario, Promo-Cultures, « Bergamote » (omafra.gov.on.ca/CropOp/fr/herbs/medicinal/berga.html)
Nutritional & medicinal properties
For educational purposes. Not a substitute for medical advice. Effects depend on the form, the dose and personal context.
Precautions & contraindications
In culinary use (a condiment, an infusion at a moderate dose), bee balm is traditionally eaten with no known problem. The essential oil comes under a quite different regime: depending on the chemotype it can be rich in thymol and carvacrol, phenolic compounds that are irritant in a concentrated state, and then calls for the usual caution of this type of oil (dilution, avoidance in pregnant or breastfeeding women and young children). The composition varies a lot from one plant to another. Any use for therapeutic purposes does not replace medical or pharmaceutical advice.
Family behaviour: Lamiaceae
In general, Lamiaceae are aromatics (basil, mint, thyme, rosemary, sage, lavender, lemon balm, savory). Their essential oils are reputed to bother some insects, but in a trial cited by Parker et al. (2013), sage, thyme and mint planted near cabbages did not reduce their pests. Their flowers are much visited by pollinators.
Understanding families means learning one rule per family rather than every pairing one by one. Learn more →
Species & varieties
The best-known species and varieties in France.
Species
Common varieties
Voices of peoples
Paraphrases attributed to their documented sources. Never an invented quote.
Haudenosaunee Confederacy (Iroquois) · Lake Ontario basin, northern New York State, colonial period
The herbalist tradition reports that it was peoples of the Fort Oswego region, on Lake Ontario, who introduced the colonists to the infusion of scarlet bee balm leaves. After the boycott of English tea following the Boston Tea Party, this herbal tea became a popular substitute, still known as 'Oswego tea', a way of continuing to gather around a hot cup without depending on the contested trade.
Daniel E. Moerman, Native American Ethnobotany, Timber Press, 1998 ; anecdote du « thé d'Oswego » largement reprise depuis Maud Grieve, A Modern Herbal, Jonathan Cape, 1931.
The precise attribution to a given people belongs to a tale transmitted by the herbalist tradition rather than to a first-hand ethnographic source, to be read as such.
Keep in mind
The antiseptic and respiratory use documented by several Indigenous peoples remains a traditional use, not a validated treatment. Monarda didyma is, moreover, prone to powdery mildew in a hot, humid climate or with poor air circulation; spacing plants apart and watering at the base limits this risk.
A note on rigour: many companion pairings are gardening folklore; this note sums up what the sources say, where there are any.