Monarda punctata, Spotted Bee Balm, Quart pot

Spotted Bee Balm, Monarda punctata

FS - PS, Hardy to Zone 3, blooms July - September, 2 - 2.5 x 1-2’ deer resistant Prefers sandy to WD, dry to medium, reseeds, short-lived perennial.

We grew these plants from seed two years ago and had beautiful first year blooms. I asked Tom to plant this lovely plant in fairly large groupings of ten plants or so, which became a major attraction to those who visited the Detroit Abloom cut flower farm last season. Why? Because they attracted profusions of fascinating insects during their long bloom cycle!

Their flowers are incredibly popular with pollinating insects, especially several species of predatory wasps who crave the protein-rich pollen. As such, M. punctata, is a great plant for attracting beneficial wasps to the garden to control grubs and pest caterpillars. Although it doesn’t spread aggressively, it does randomly reseed, which is what we want. Most pollinator visitors are after the rich nectar, although the pollen is also inadvertently deposited on their upper thorax..

Attracts the Great Black and Great Golden Digger Wasps as well as many kinds of native specialist bees, beetles, flies, Crescent Butterflies and several species of moths.