![]() ![]() Herbal Medicine angelorosa / Pixabayīee balm’s thymol concentration has strong antiseptic, anti-fungal, and anesthetic properties. You can also try this bee balm bread recipe or try your hand at making jelly. Many Greek dishes use a combination of mint and oregano.įlowers make a gorgeous edible garnish for salads, especially fruit salads. Native Americans traditionally used bee balm as a seasoning for wild game-particularly fowl-but it also goes well with lamb. The plant has a spicy aroma that tastes like a mix of spearmint and peppermint, with a sharp oregano tang. Use its essential oil in a diffuser, or add the oil to bath water. Bee balm is also soothing, and therefore the oil can be used to help uplift the spirit, calm anxiety and help in stressful moments. Essential Oil mitchf1 / PixabayĪs mentioned, the major constituent of the oil is thymol: a phenol that gives it antimicrobial properties. Plant it in large clumps so that the pollinators have plenty to feed on in one concentrated area. It’s a wonderful companion plant for the garden since it attracts pollinators. It’s used to successfully prevent fermentation and mold growth in bee colonies. We could watch them closely, and they weren’t distracted from their work.Īnother way that this plant helps bees is that it contains thymol: a phenol that has been developed by R.O.B. They were so in love with the nectar that I never needed a hummingbird feeder. Its Many Uses via Bonnie Plants Attract PollinatorsĪlthough the bees do love bee balm, it was the local hummingbirds that frequented my own plants the most. punctata variety is also known as horsemint, or spotted bee balm. Varieties native to California are Monarda pectinata Nutt. ![]() Monarda fistulosa, which has pink or lavender flowers, is the variety known as wild bergamot. Monarda citriodora has leaves that are lemon-scented. didyma has red-colored flowers, and contains the highest amounts of essential oils. didyma are the varieties most commonly used as medicine by particular Native American tribes, including Blackfoot, Menominee, Ojibwe, and Winnebago. Allow the herbs to steep for about 15 minutes. Heat the water to almost boiling, and then pour over the herbs. How to Make Oswego Teaġ Tablespoon of dried flower petals and leaves (or 2 tablespoons of fresh for every cup of water) John Bartram, an English colonist living in Philadelphia, is said to have sent seeds to England in the mid-1700s, where the plant is known today as gold Melissa or Indian nettle. This variety was used traditionally as a sweat inducer in indigenous sweat lodge ceremonies. The purple flowering variety is known as wild bergamot because it smells similar to the orange bergamot citrus tree. Colonial settlers also drank the tea to avoid taxation from the crown after the Boston Tea Party. Red flowering bee balm is also known as Oswego Tea, since some Native American tribes in New York’s Oswego region used it. The flowers come in varying shades of red, purple, pink, and white. When you rub the leaves or flowers, they smell like a cross between mint and oregano. Stems are square shaped like other mints, and the leaves are pointed lancets, which grow in opposite pairs. Those long tubes contain the nectar that hummingbirds are drawn to, and the birds’ long beaks are the perfect tools to dig in. ![]() ![]() Lower petals resemble a lip, while the top petals are a mass of individual flowers that look like clustered, fanning tubes. The flowers are distinct with a spiky appearance. Appearanceīee balm is an easy plant to identify when it ‘s growing wild in fields, stream beds or woodland edges. The latter are mainly grown to enhance their essential oil, or to be used as medicine. Wild bergamot ( Monarda fistulosa) is more robust than cultivated varieties (such as Monarda didyma). Therefore, it’s a well-rounded plant that’s easy to grow and has many uses-both in the garden and for the gardener. Historically, it has been used for health care and wellbeing, prized for the essential oils it contains, and also used as a seasoning. As its colloquial name suggests, it’s attractive to bees and other pollinating insects, as well as hummingbirds and beneficial garden bugs. There are over 20 species of Monarda spp: some annuals, others perennial. This flower-which smells a bit like oregano-is one of the best pollinator-attracting plants you can have in your garden. It’s also known as horsemint and wild bergamot, and is native to North America. Are you familiar with bee balm? Also known by its scientific name, Monarda, it’s a flowering plant genus in the mint family. ![]()
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