What do Monarda leaves look like?
Opposite leaves are broadly lanceolate to ovate and can vary in colour from light green to dark green (sometimes with red or yellow tints) depending on environmental conditions. Serrated margin leaves are hairless and can grow up to 10 cm long and 5 cm in width. They emit an oregano-like scent.
Is bee balm Evergreen?
Bee Balm will have small basal leaves that stay green (evergreen) all winter at the base of the plant.
What is the difference between bee balm and Monarda?
Monarda fistulosa, also referred to as purple bee balm and wild bergamot, contains carvacrol which gives it a spicy flavor similar to Greek oregano. The pungent, chopped leaves can be added to soups, stews, beans, marinades, tomato sauce, and with eggs, seafood or meat. Use it anywhere you might use oregano or savory.
Are Monarda plants invasive?
The Bee balm flower – also referred to as monarda – is relatively easy to grow from seeds, cuttings, and root divisions. In fact, the plant can become invasive and spread every year with the right growing season. This is because it quickly spreads via underground rhizomes.
Is bee balm invasive?
If you’re asking whether bee balm can be aggressive, then the answer is yes – especially in its ideal growing environment with moist soil in a full sun to part shade location. However, it is not technically deemed invasive everywhere.
How do you identify bergamot?
The bergamot plant has an open, branching habit. Each light-green stem leans somewhat at an angle and is topped with a group of flowers that together resemble ragged pompoms. The edible blooms are usually hues of purple or pink and have individual petals that are long and slender, with stamens longer than the petals.
Is Monarda didyma a perennial?
PLANT DESCRIPTION: Monarda didyma is an upright perennial that expands into colonies from vigorous rhizomes. Stems are pubescent, green and square with occasional branching. The aromatic leaves are arranged opposite from each other on 1” petioles along the stems. Leaf blades are deep green and heart shaped to ovate.
Does bee balm survive winter?
Bee balm can die down completely to the ground during the cold season, but it will come back in the spring. After the first hard frost, usually anywhere from mid October to December, you will want to prune the plant to the ground. Be sure that the plant has died back before you prune it.
How do I stop Monarda from spreading?
Because monarda has a tendency to spread, it is essential to keep it contained. To do so, the plant should be root divided every three years. Dig up the root clump in the early spring, discard the inner, older portion, and replant the new divisions twelve to fifteen inches apart.
Is Monarda a perennial?
Monarda is a member of the mint family and consists of multiple species, most of which are hardy perennials and all of which are native to certain regions of North America. Summertime flowering on all these species is quite attractive to humans and pollinators.