Monarda didyma, Red Beebalm

While Lobelia Cardinalis is the most intensely coloured of the red flowers in the garden, Scarlet Beebalm is the showiest. These brilliant fireworks appear in late June or early July, (a much more ecologically compatible form of fireworks than the ones that shed heavy metals into rivers, soils and lakes at the start of July every year) brightening up the part shade location for around 3 weeks, with some intermittent reblooming after that. In a hot, dry year they grow to around 3’ tall and can suffer from mildew on their foliage in August if they don’t receive some supplemental watering. In a wet year they can grow to over 5’ tall and the foliage will remain fresh and green until frost.

This is one of the few flowering perennials in my garden that I can say from experience will stay more compact, and will bloom a bit later, if cut back in early June. I don’t usually cut or deadhead perennials, except for a late spring chop-and-drop to mulch the soil with any of last year’s stems that have folded over onto other plants. The reason that I cut some of these stems is to gather them for winter teas and for Monarda-and-chocolate cake. You can find the recipe for the cake and the Wood Sorel and Prickly Ash ice cream that I served with it here https://www.facebook.com/sundaura.alford/posts/10219588352799256

When it comes to preferred growing conditions, these seem to enjoy either average moisture conditions and dappled shade, or plenty of moisture and full sun. They spread steadily but the roots and shoots form a thick mat just a couple of inches below the soil, so splitting off bits to give away is an easy spring task if your garden isn’t 100% suited to their exuberant nature.

This species can be a bit challenging to source. Not because they are difficult to propagate but because most native seed suppliers decline to offer them. Monarda didyma has long been a popular species for the development of cultivars by the horticultural industry. There are pink, purple, white and dwarf cultivars, as well as a several named red selections, some of which have been around for decades, and finding seeds that are entirely wild-type genetics isn’t feasible without DNA analysis.

Rather than not grow them at all, especially when there aren’t local wild populations in this area that need to be protected from the introduction of competitive genetics, I lean toward including ones that match the blooming season, flower colour and overall traits of the what I understand the wild type to be.

The plants that I gather seeds from were sourced a few years ago from Grow Wild near Peterborough and I added a plant from Kayanase last summer for a bit more genetic variation. I also found out last year that ‘Jacob Cline’ is a selection from a particularly robust wild population, rather than a human modified cultivar so might be one to consider if you can’t find any from a native plant supplier.

Unlike the issue with Anise Hyssop (Agastache foeniculum), which has been so widely hybridized with Korean Mint (Agastache vulgaris) that most of the photos I see online labeled as A. foeniculum are either A. vulgaris or a hybrid of the two, the Monarda didyma cultivars are all based on the native species, rather than crosses with another species that lacks a long history with the pollinators of this place.