Plant a bee balm and wait. It won’t take long. Pollinators show up quickly, whether it’s hummingbirds tucking into the scarlet bee balm, native bees snuggling into the lavender ones, or butterflies working the spotted horsemint. By midsummer, the whole plant is buzzing. Bee balms bloom for weeks when your garden needs color the most, they smell like a wave of minty-citrus when you crush a leaf, and they have a history that connects Indigenous medicine, the American Revolution, and modern mouthwash.
Is bee balm a good choice for my yard?
Yes, if:
- You want hummingbirds. Scarlet bee balm is essentially a hummingbird dinner bell. Those tubular red flowers were shaped by evolution to fit a hummingbird’s beak.
- You want midsummer color. Bee balm blooms in July and August, right in the gap between spring flowers and fall asters. It fills the dead zone.
- You like plants you can use. Brew the leaves into tea, toss them into a salad, dry them for sachets. Bee balm is as useful as it is pretty.
- You have a sunny spot with soil that doesn’t turn into a puddle. Full sun and good drainage are most of the battle.
- You want your garden to smell amazing. Brush against a bee balm and it’ll perfume your hand for the rest of the afternoon.
Skip it if…
- You can’t stand powdery mildew. It’s the number one issue with bee balm, especially scarlet bee balm. You can minimize it (full sun, good spacing, resistant cultivars), but in humid climates, you’ll probably see some. If that annoys you, try wild bergamot instead. It shrugs mildew off.
- You want something that stays put. Bee balm spreads by underground runners and can colonize a bed if you let it. Dividing every couple of years keeps it in line, but this is not a well-behaved plant.
- You only have shade. Bee balm needs sun, at least six hours. In shade, it gets leggy, barely blooms, and mildew takes over. Not worth it.
New to native?
Before lawns and landscaping, native plants were here. They’ve fed birds, bees, and butterflies for thousands of years—and they’ll do the same in your yard. The best part? They’re easier to grow than you think.
Why Bee Balm Matters
The hummingbird connection
Get up close and you’ll see: bee balm flowers are very weird. Bee balm flowers are basically custom-built for hummingbirds. Those long, tubular blooms are the exact shape a hummingbird’s beak and tongue are designed for, deep enough that most insects can’t reach the nectar, but perfectly sized for a hummingbird to hover and sip.
The bright red color on scarlet bee balm (Monarda didyma) is the clincher: hummingbirds see red better than any other color, and they can spot a patch of bee balm from surprisingly far away. If you want to watch hummingbirds from your kitchen window, this is the plant to put in that sightline.
A mid-season lifeline for pollinators
July and August can be a rough stretch for pollinators. Spring flowers are done, fall asters and goldenrods haven’t started yet, and there’s a nectar gap right in the hottest part of summer.
Bee balm fills that gap. Native bees (bumble bees, sweat bees, carpenter bees, leaf-cutter bees), butterflies (monarchs, swallowtails), and clearwing moths all pile in. It’s the lunch rush at the only restaurant open in August.
From your yard to your mouthwash
Here’s one that’ll surprise you: bee balm contains thymol, the same antiseptic compound used in modern commercial mouthwash. The Blackfoot people figured this out centuries ago. They used bee balm poultices for skin infections and chewed the leaves for mouth and gum problems.
When scientists finally isolated thymol and started putting it in mouthwash, they were validating what Indigenous medicine had known all along. Spotted bee balm has the highest concentration of thymol of any species in the genus.
Types of native bee balm
Meet four native bee balm species you’ll find at native nurseries:
Scarlet Bee Balm
Monarda didyma
This classic red-flowered bee balm is native to the Northeast, Midwest, and many Southern states, too.
- It can be tall: up to 4 feet at its happiest.
- Hummingbird magnet!
- Bloom time from June to early August.
Bee Balm / Wild Bergamot
Monarda Fistulosa
This gorgeous light purple bee balm is native to the prairies of the Midwest.
- Lovely smell that is similar to oregano.
- Resilient, easy-to-grow plant; Michigan Department of Transportation plants it along highways
- 3-5 feet tall
- June and July bloom time
Lemon Bee Balm
Monarda Citriodora
This annual bee balm (it will reseed itself, or need to be reseeded every year after a frost).
- Wonderful lemony scent
- Multiple tiered levels of flowers
- 2-3 feet tall
Spotted Bee Balm / Horsemint
Monarda punctata
This is our favorite bee balm. Its flowers are tiger-like in their spotted beauty.
- Smells like a cross between mint and oregano
- Depending on where it’s planted, it will be an annual (lasting only one season) or a short-lived perennial (coming back for a year or two).
- Does not like waterlogged soils
- 2-3 feet tall
And there’s more!
There are roughly nine other Monarda species native to North America, but they can sometimes be difficult to find. (We’re saying ‘roughly’ because the number of species ranges between 14 and 18, depending on the source, and a new species was identified as recently as 2015.)
Explore the other Monarda species
Here are the other species of Monarda native to North America:
5. Monarda clinopodia – White bergamot
6. Monarda bradburiana – Eastern bee balm
7. Monarda media – Purple pergamot
8. Monarda pectinata – Pony bee balm
9. Monarda russeliana – Russell’s bee balm
10. Monarda austroappalachiana – Appalachian Bee Balm (new identified species!)
11. Monarda bartlettii – Bartlett’s bee balm (native to Mexico)
12. Monarda fruticulosa – Shrubby bee balm
13. Monarda clinopodioides – Basil mountain mint
14. Monarda viridissima – Green bee balm
15. Monarda lindheimeri – Lindenheimer’s bee balm
Bee Balm is deer-proof
Deer do NOT eat bee balm. If you’re worried about deer nibbling your garden, planting bee balm is a good native gardening choice.
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Seen other colors with cheeky names like ‘Raspberry Wine’?
Those are cultivar bee balms. You can always identify a cultivar when you see a marketing-friendly name ‘in single quotes.’ There are dozens of cultivar bee balms.
What is a bee balm cultivar?
Cultivars are plants bred or selected by humans. (Here is a beginner-friendly overview of cultivars.) They can be created in many ways, from spotting out in the wild to more complex processes like genetic modification.
The main reason to go with a cultivar over the straight species is mildew resistance. The native plant experts at Mt. Cuba Center in Delaware identified several Monarda cultivars that outperformed in gardens, especially when it came to mildew. If you’re in a humid climate, these are worth seeking out:
- Scarlet bee balm cultivar: ‘Jacob Cline’ (M. didyma ‘Jacob Cline’): Deep red, 3 to 5 feet, the best mildew-resistant red. Big, bold flowers. If you want hummingbirds and hate mildew, this is the one.
- Another scarlet bee balm cultivar: ‘Raspberry Wine’ (M. didyma ‘Raspberry Wine’): Wine-red flowers, 3 to 4 feet. The color is somewhere between cranberry and merlot. Good mildew resistance.
- Wild bergamot / purple bee balm cultivar: ‘Claire Grace’ (M. fistulosa ‘Clare Grace’) blooms for 3 straight weeks and has good mildew resistance (additional bonus: it’s naturally occurring, meaning it was found in the wild, not made in a lab.)
Or, decide for yourself! Head over to Mt. Cuba’s report on bee balm cultivars and read up on what works (and what to skip).
What is a cultivar?
Cultivar is short for CULTIvated VARieties. Cultivars are plants selected for traits like color, size, or disease resistance. Useful and sometimes stunning...but some lose the scent, shape, or timing wildlife depends on. Plant straight species when possible.
How to grow bee balm
Where to plant
Full sun. This is non-negotiable for scarlet bee balm; shade means leggy stems, fewer flowers, and a mildew party. Wild bergamot is a little more flexible and can handle part shade. Well-drained soil with moderate moisture is ideal. Scarlet bee balm likes it a little wetter; wild bergamot handles drier conditions.
When to plant
Spring or fall.
Spacing
18 to 24 inches apart. Air circulation is your best weapon against powdery mildew, so don’t crowd them. Think of it like a crowded elevator: nobody’s happy and everyone gets sick.
Beginner Tip
Watering
Keep consistently moist the first season. After that, scarlet bee balm likes regular water (it’s a streambank plant). Wild bergamot can handle drought once established.
Deadheading
Snip spent flower heads and you’ll often get a second round of blooms. If you skip deadheading, the plant puts energy into seeds instead, which is fine if you want to feed goldfinches.
Dividing
Every two to three years, dig up the clump and divide it. Bee balm spreads by underground runners and the center of old clumps can die out. Dividing keeps plants vigorous, controls spread, and gives you free plants.
Where bee balm shines in your yard
- The hummingbird window: Plant scarlet bee balm where you can see it from inside the house. Then pull up a chair with your morning coffee. The hummingbird show is worth the powdery mildew.
- The pollinator bed: Mix bee balm with coneflowers, black-eyed Susans, and goldenrod for a pollinator garden that covers spring through fall. Bee balm handles the midsummer shift.
- The kitchen garden: Tuck bee balm between your tomatoes and near your herbs. Gardeners report it helps deter tomato hornworms, and it brings in the pollinators your veggies need. Edible and useful.
- The moist, sunny spot: Got a sunny area with consistently moist soil? Scarlet bee balm was born for it. It grows along streambanks in the wild.
- The dry, tough spot: Wild bergamot handles dry soil and neglect. That sunny strip along the driveway? The strip between the sidewalk and street? Wild bergamot couldn’t care less.
Other iconic native flowers
Bee balms have been native garden stars for generations. Here are some other growing icons that thrive in similiar conditions.
Planting FAQs
Does bee balm like sun or shade?
Bee Balm thrives in full sun to part sun. Full shade is the only sun option that won’t work well for bee balm. Bee balm is a great native plant for beginning native gardens since it is happy in many types of light and soil.
What kind of soil does bee balm like?
Bee balm grows well in soil that’s somewhat moist to average. (Basically, as long as it’s not super dry or water-logged, it will thrive.)
Why does my bee balm have white spots?
Sometimes, especially at the end of the summer, bee balm can get white splotches or a white covering over its leaves. This is actually mold, and it tells you that the plant needs more air circulation (basically, it’s crowded.)
Dig up the plants near it to give it more air, and voila, the mold issue will be solved.
Bee balm, Oswego tea, monarda…what’s the right name?
These plants go by many names. Over thousands of years, they’ve picked up a pile of nicknames. To keep things simple, we’re calling the whole group bee balm.
But with so many names, how can you be sure you’ve got the right plant?
Botanical Latin to the rescue.
Every bee balm belongs to the genus Monarda. Checking the Latin name is the easiest way to confirm you’re looking at the real thing. Latin names were created so that gardeners and botanists would have a consistent way of identifying plants, regardless of the numerous common names they’ve collected.
Learn more in our quick guide to Latin vs. common names.
Where does the Latin name Monarda come from?
The genus name Monarda honors Nicolás Monardes, a 16th-century Spanish doctor and botanist. Disappointingly, he never set foot in North America. So the plant that Indigenous peoples used for centuries and that still grows wild across the continent is officially named after a guy who never saw it growing.
Many other North American natives share this pattern, with Latin names tied to European scholars who didn’t cross the Atlantic. Magnolia and Rudbeckia—aka black-eyed Susans—are others.
Bee balm is related to mint
All bee balms are part of the mint family (Lamiaceae), which explains their fresh, minty-herbal fragrance in the garden.
All plants in Lamiaceae have square stems (yep! It’s like tiny, growing Legos). Run your fingers along their stems to spot this cool detail. You can feel this in any mint species.
Where can I find bee balm?
Thankfully, bee balm is one of the few native plants that are often found in plant nurseries. Here are some recommendations for sourcing native bee balm, either from plants or seed:
Where can I find seeds and plants?
Finding native plants can be challenging (we partly blame King Louis XVI.) To make it easier, we’ve assembled four sourcing ideas.
300+ native nurseries make finding one a breeze
Explore 100+ native-friendly eCommerce sites
Every state and province has a native plant society; find yours
Online Communities
Local Facebook groups are a great plant source
What to plant with bee balm
Pair bee balm with other flowering native plants that flower throughout the seasons to create a pollinator party. Native asters and goldenrods are good for fall and end-of-summer blooms, which golden alexander gives some spring brightness (and is a host plant for swallowtail butterflies). Here are some multi-season, native pairing suggestions:
Pairs well with
Planting native bee balm is an easy way to have a gorgeous garden with way less work than a lawn. Bee balms attract movie star pollinators like hummingbirds and butterflies and are happy in a variety of sun and soil situations. While planting native bee balm varieties is always best for wildlife, cultivar bee balms offer a wide range of heights and colors, alongside added powdery mildew protection. Why not start a bee balm collection, and plant a few varieties? Keep exploring native, iconic favorites in our Beginner’s Guide to Coneflowers or our Beginner’s Guide to Milkweed. Or just focus on hummers and visit our How to Plant a Hummingbird Garden. Happy planting!
Sources
- Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center, Wild Bergamot
- Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center, Lemon Bee Balm
- Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center, Scarlet Bee Balm
- Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center, Spotted Bee Balm
- Missouri Botanical Garden. “Monarda didyma.”
- Coombs, George. Mt. Cuba Center. Research Report on Monarda for the Mid-Atlantic Region, 2016.
- Deng, Jianjun, et al. “Antibacterial Activity and Mechanism of Action of Monarda punctata Essential Oil and Its Main Components Against Common Bacterial Pathogens in Respiratory Tract.” International Journal of Clinical and Experimental Pathology 8, no. 9 (2015). pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC4270556/
- Scora, Rainer W., and Ming-He Chang. “Monarda: A Source of Geraniol, Linalool, Thymol and Carvacrol-rich Essential Oils.” Purdue University New Crops Research. hort.purdue.edu/newcrop/proceedings1993/V2-628.html
- DailyMed / National Library of Medicine. “Listerine Original Antiseptic” (drug label; confirms thymol as active ingredient). dailymed.nlm.nih.gov
- NC State Extension Gardener Plant Toolbox. “Monarda fistulosa.” NC State University.
- USDA NRCS. “Monarda fistulosa Plant Guide.”
- USGS, Lindenheimer’s Bee Balm
- Xerces Society for Invertebrate Conservation. “Pollinator Conservation Program: Monarda.”
- Johnson, Lorraine. 100 Easy-to-Grow Native Plants for American Gardens in Temperate Zones. (1999), 20, 124.
- Craigmyle, Marshall. “The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Perennials.” (2002), 193–194.
- Lorimer, Uli. The Northeast Native Plant Primer. (2022), 161–162.
- Taylor, Patricia A. Easy Care Native Plants. (1996), 263–264.
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