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Georgia Gardener

Monarda fistulosa - Wild Bergamot

15 years ago

I like to share pictures of native plants so that people can see how pretty they are. Monarda fistulosa is bloom in my yard now and probably on roadsides too (I should find that old post about roadside flowers).

This is also a rather aromatic plant, adding a pleasant scent to the area. It is not as aromatic, however, as mints like Mountain mint (Pycnanthemum sp.).

Monardas (and Pycnanthemums) can be "aggressive", so I keep mine in an "unimproved" side bed that I use for my summer/fall blooming perennial natives. They are growing in plain ol' clay. I have Helianthus, Solidago, Milkweed, Ageratum and others.

Comments (5)

georgiagirl
15 years ago
How beautiful. I really love native plants. It's a pity we can't grow monardo like that down here in coastal Georgia. I do have some of the hybrids, which limp along in the humid heat. Yours looks so healthy and are standing up so straight and tall.
stevega
15 years ago
So that's what they are supposed to look like! I have some Jacob Cline in an area that I wanted for butterflys and Hummingbirds. The area turned out to be dry (imagine that)so they look like small weeds with one or two blooms a year. I've never seen them wild-thanks.
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Original Author
15 years ago
Jacob Cline is a cultivar of Monarda didyma, a "cousin" of this plant, if you will. I have a piece of it as well, but I have not been very kind to it and it is struggling for me also. I have one lone bloom about to open. I need to top dress it with some compost and see if I can coax it to grow better. That one is a gorgeous scarlet color.
turkeytaker
15 years ago
Love it! I don't have that one, yet, but I'll have to watch for it. I love the didyma and whatever the purple variety I have is. I haven't had any trouble keeping them in check (although one of them went wild this year and is taller than I am), but I do tend to keep an eye on them.

Thanks for the picture!

Stacy
mayland
15 years ago
Beautiful, thats such a delicate color, it looks like a very pale blue-lilac on my screen.
I planted some "Cambridge Scarlet" a few weeks ago, which I think is another Monarda didyma cultivar. I hope it does as well!

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