Spotted beebalm

Sun

Full sun; tolerates light shade, but flowers best in an open position.

Water

Low to moderate; water while establishing, then mainly during prolonged drought.

Soil

Well-drained sandy, gravelly or loamy soil; tolerates poor, dry ground but dislikes waterlogged soil, especially in winter.

Height

1-3 ft (0.3-0.9 m)

Spread

1-2 ft (0.3-0.6 m)

Flowers

Summer into early autumn; pale yellow tubular flowers dotted with purple, held above pink, lavender or nearly white bracts.

Foliage

Narrow, toothed green to grey-green leaves on square stems, with a strong thyme-like scent when rubbed.

Growth

Fast; may flower in its first year from an early sowing.

Care needed

Low

• Pollinators
• Deer resistant
• Drought tolerant
• Cold hardy
• Heat tolerant
• Disease resistant
• Wildlife
• Low allergen
• Fragrant

Northern hemisphere months. In Australia, shift them by six.

Difficulty

Easy

Toughness

Very tough

Pick your zone, country, light and whether you have pets.

1. Planting day

   1 ft (0.3 m)

2. After 1 year

   1.5 ft (0.45 m)

3. After 2 years

   2 ft (0.6 m)

   full size

About 2 years to full size.

From a typical nursery size, at an average rate for this kind of plant. A rule of thumb, not a forecast.

Cats and dogs

Safe

Native to

the US and Canada

Growth rate

Fast

• Water new plants regularly until rooted, then allow the soil to dry between waterings.
• Avoid rich manure and routine feeding; fertile soil can produce weak, floppy growth.
• Keep the crown free of thick, moisture-holding mulch.
• Thin crowded seedlings to maintain airflow and leave room for each plant.
• Let a few flower heads set seed to replace short-lived plants; remove unwanted seedlings while small.

Pruning. Remove spent flower heads during summer if you want to limit self-seeding. Leave remaining stems standing through winter, then cut them back near ground level in late winter or early spring before new growth develops.

Early spring

Cut back old stems and remove weeds around emerging shoots.

Spring

Surface-sow seed in trays or a prepared seedbed; press it into the soil without burying it.

Late spring

Plant out young plants after severe frost risk has passed and water until established.

Summer

Water during prolonged drought and remove selected spent heads to control seed production.

Autumn

Collect seed from dry, brown heads or let some fall naturally.

Winter

Check that crowns are not sitting in wet soil or buried beneath wet leaves.

• Plant in loose groups in a sunny pollinator border, where the tiered flower heads are easy to see.
• Mix with little bluestem and butterfly weed in a dry native meadow.
• Use among gravel and drought-tolerant perennials where drainage is sharp and soil is lean.
• Place near a path so you can enjoy the scented foliage and watch visiting insects.

Garden styles it suits: Native meadow, Pollinator garden, Wildlife garden, Dry gravel garden, Cottage garden and Desert / xeriscape.

Plant it with: Butterfly weed, Little bluestem, Purple coneflower, Lanceleaf coreopsis, Black-eyed Susan and Prairie dropseed.

Wildlife: Flowers attract bumblebees, other native bees, butterflies and beneficial solitary wasps. Standing stems can provide overwintering shelter for insects.

• Root or crown rot in wet soil: improve drainage or move plants to a raised, sandy bed; avoid winter-wet sites.
• Powdery mildew: grow in sun, thin crowded plants and water the soil rather than the foliage; this species is generally less susceptible than many other beebalms.
• Floppy stems in rich soil or shade: stop feeding and move plants to a sunnier, leaner site.
• Plants disappearing after a few seasons: this is often their naturally short lifespan; retain seedlings or sow fresh seed.

Not known to be toxic to people, cats, dogs or horses in ordinary garden contact or incidental small ingestion. Species-specific animal safety information is limited; do not assume concentrated extracts or essential oils are safe to swallow.

• Wild bergamot (Monarda fistulosa)

  Usually has rounded terminal heads of lavender flowers rather than stacked tiers of yellow, purple-spotted flowers with conspicuous pale bracts.

• Lemon beebalm (Monarda citriodora)

  Also has tiered flower heads, but its flowers are pink to lavender rather than yellow with purple spots; its foliage usually smells lemony.

• Scarlet beebalm (Monarda didyma)

  Has broader leaves and usually bright red flowers in terminal heads, rather than the spotted yellow flowers and stacked pale bracts of spotted beebalm.

Monarda honours the Spanish physician and botanist Nicolás Monardes, while punctata means spotted, referring to the purple dots on the flowers.

Propagation. Grow from seed, surface-sown because light aids germination. A period of cold, moist conditions can improve germination; autumn sowing outdoors provides this naturally. Young volunteer seedlings can be moved in spring.

Accepted botanical name

Monarda punctata

In the US and Canada

Native in Canada and the lower 48 states.

Native range

Alabama, Arkansas, Connecticut, District of Columbia, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky and Louisiana.

Measured

Average height 42 cm.

Sources: GBIF (CC BY 4.0), USDA PLANTS and Trefle (CC BY 4.0). The care and design notes are LandscapeGPT's own.