Of all flowers in my flowerbeds, my favorite is Bee Balm. I love the spicy scent of the leaves and the blooms are just quirky.
Over the years I have collected the available colors: bright red, ruby red (shown), pale pink, dark pink. pale lavender and dark lavender. I am highly allergic to bees so most people are surprised that I grow them; truth is, they attract mostly honey bees and I am not allergic to them.
While you can easily start them with a piece of the purple-colored root,I would recommend buying a nice healthy plant and let it grow in the ground for one year. After it has blossomed that second year you can harvest plenty of roots to help them spread or to start them in a different location.
Caring for the plants are easy; they require no special treatment, other than partial to mostly sun and well draining soil. They don't seem to mind a bit of a drought, but I do water mine when it is exceptionally dry, especially the ones in front of the garage that don't get rain because of the extended roof. I don't give them fertilizer other than a bit of Epsom Salts in the spring.
I make my own soap in the fall and I always make a few bars of Bee Balm soap just for me. I dry some of the leaves and crumble them and add them to the soap at the last stirring before pouring into molds.
Bee Balm blooms in the late summer when my gardens are looking a little bare. They blossom with the Phlox and the Echinacea, just after the Asiatic Lilies. This is when I usually add a few Mums to add back some color until we get hard freezes.
By the way, I am in Maine, in zone 4-5.
Happy growing!
Over the years I have collected the available colors: bright red, ruby red (shown), pale pink, dark pink. pale lavender and dark lavender. I am highly allergic to bees so most people are surprised that I grow them; truth is, they attract mostly honey bees and I am not allergic to them.
While you can easily start them with a piece of the purple-colored root,I would recommend buying a nice healthy plant and let it grow in the ground for one year. After it has blossomed that second year you can harvest plenty of roots to help them spread or to start them in a different location.
Caring for the plants are easy; they require no special treatment, other than partial to mostly sun and well draining soil. They don't seem to mind a bit of a drought, but I do water mine when it is exceptionally dry, especially the ones in front of the garage that don't get rain because of the extended roof. I don't give them fertilizer other than a bit of Epsom Salts in the spring.
I make my own soap in the fall and I always make a few bars of Bee Balm soap just for me. I dry some of the leaves and crumble them and add them to the soap at the last stirring before pouring into molds.
Bee Balm blooms in the late summer when my gardens are looking a little bare. They blossom with the Phlox and the Echinacea, just after the Asiatic Lilies. This is when I usually add a few Mums to add back some color until we get hard freezes.
By the way, I am in Maine, in zone 4-5.
Happy growing!
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