Bee balm

Monarda fistulosa

Lamiaceae

Wild bergamot — a ragged native mint whose leaf is an Earl Grey rumor and a traditional cold tea of the Northeast.

Culinary and tea leaf of wild bergamot. Oswego tea is this genus. Not bergamot orange.

Parts used: Leaf · Flowering tops
Traditional notes: Kitchen tea · Traditional cold folklore · Bee forage
Grow · USDA 6b: Perennial, USDA 3–9 Division or plants. Seed is easy too. In work: Jun · Jul · Aug
Harvest: Leaf and tops as they flower.

Space it. Mildew is a crowding problem.
M. didyma is the red one; both make tea.

Safety

Thyme/oregano allergy

Companions

Plant with Anise hyssop, Borage, Calendula, Cornflower, Cosmos, French marigold.

Lore

Oswego tea is named for the people around that river, and for the settlers who drank Monarda when black tea was a tax argument. The bergamot in Earl Grey is a Calabrian orange. Linnaeus named the genus for Nicolás Monardes, who wrote of New World plants without ever seeing this prairie mint.

The Herbarium — a teaching catalog, not a clinic. Traditional use is history, not a prescription. USDA 6b dates are a week either way, not a promise. Do not eat, drink, or harvest a plant you cannot name.