Native Americans - Garden Plants – Bergamot/Monarda

Name - Monarda is the name for the flower, although it’s often called Bergamot, which is, strictly speaking the name of a citrus fruit, not a flower at all. The flower is also known as Beebalm, and Oswego tea.

Description - Ranging in size from 1 to 3 feet, these perennial plants have leaves which, when crushed, exude a spicy, highly fragrant oil. The flowers are large and rather tubular, set around a central area in a highly showy fashion and range from crimson-red to red, pink and light purple. Commercial varieties have soft blue or white flowers but are not as hardy, or fragrant, as the naturally occurring versions.

Origins - The monarda originates in North American and has a wide range of uses, leaves of some smell like stuffing and indeed may be used for cooking, others have lemon scent, wonderful for pot pourri. All forms of monarda have to be contained or dug up with only a few parts replanted each year, or they will become madly invasive. In the USA this tendency is being used to fill in rough areas of land like demolition sites, to provide bold areas for landscaping while houses are built and increasingly, as an annual crop where bio-fuels have been harvested. This plant prefers full sun and moist yet well-drained soil. In the UK it can be used in beds and borders to encourage and increase the appearance of pollinating insects and the volatile oils present in its root are used to companion plant around small vegetable crops susceptible to subterranean pests – the theory being that the pests are confused by the smell and don’t find your salad potatoes! Native Americans used Monarda’s fragrant leaves to make tea and potpourri.

America Bergamot photograph by audreyjm529, used under a creative commons attribution licence

 

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