The colourful and popular bee balm has several common names, which is always an indicator of a good garden plant. Any plant that stands out enough to be named a few times is likely to have been worth the effort. Its correct botanical name is monarda and it is often known by that name, but it’s also called ‘bee balm’, because bees love it, and ‘horsemint’, because it looks like a big version of the mint plant and is in the mint family.

It is also known as ‘Oswego tea’, after the river Oswego in the state of New York, for its use as a herbal tea, and ‘bergamot’, because it smells somewhat like the bergamot orange, which is an aromatic species of citrus.

By whichever name, this is a lovely garden flower, spectacular in high summer and still useful in winter. Not surprisingly, monarda comes from eastern North America where it is native to grassland and scrubby, lightly wooded areas.

The plant was well known to Native Americans, who use it for its medicinal properties and for cooking.

Like many plants in the mint or sage family, monarda contains chemicals that act as an antiseptic. The native people used it for skin problems, wounds and to treat fever. Herbal tea, made by infusing a leaf in a glass of hot water, is good for mouth ulcers, or as a general pick-me-up.

It is still used as a herbal tea now, but the flavour can be quite strong and the slightly antiseptic taste does not appeal to all.

As a garden flower, monarda is hard to beat, with lots of very vivid flowers gathered at the tips of the tall stems. An established plant will make a big clump of these flowering stems. It is generally about 90cm, or a little taller, and easily makes a bush as wide.

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Monarda is perfect for a country garden, being a good-sized plant that needs little effort. It can be used in a herbaceous border or in a mixed border with shrubs of medium size.

Plant two, three clumps, or more, for best effect. The flowers appear in midsummer after the shoots develop full height.

The flowers are really clusters of hooded, tubular flowers. These open in succession, from the bottom of the cluster to the top, which lengthens the flowering period.

Sometimes the clusters are tiered, so the plant has a structured appearance. This structure is maintained as the flowers fade and when the leaves have withered. The base of the flower clusters and the stem dries out, but the seed heads are very robust, lasting through winter and even into spring. The old stems offer protection and support for the new season’s young shoots.

Usually the withered stems will be taken away before new growth starts in spring, but they have excellent value for a long period before that.

Two American species, Monarda didyma and Monarda fistulosa, have been grown in gardens and used in breeding named varieties. The first likes relatively moist soil, but not wet in winter, and tends to fade out if the soil is too dry in summer, wilting noticeably on hot days. The second is happy in drier soils and its hybrids are more tolerant.

Purple or lilac kinds are better in dry soil, the bright reds preferring the moister ground. ‘Cambridge Scarlet’ is scarlet, ‘Croftway Pink’, soft pink, ‘Prarienacht’, intense purple, and ‘Beauty of Cobham’, lilac-pink. All kinds like a good measure of organic material in the soil.

If the clumps begin to thin out in the centre, the vigorous outside portions can be lifted and replanted, but this is not needed very often. The clump seeks to spread, so have plants of equal vigour alongside to contain it. CL

Bedding flowers

Autumn has run late this year with very little frost: the factor that usually brings a halt to the growing season. Summer bedding is still going in some cases, but it is now a good time to plant bedding flowers for winter and spring colour. Even a dozen plants can make a big difference in brightening the entrance or a pathway.

While people are keen on summer bedding colour, they are often relatively slow to plant some winter bedding plants and often leave containers empty or, worse, with the withered remains of summer plants. There is a good choice of winter and spring bedding: polyanthus, primroses (below), pansies, bachelor’s buttons, cyclamen, wallflowers and forget-me-nots. It takes very little time to plant a few plants, and the existing compost can be used if there is no sign of vine weevils.