Highly scented monarda is related to the mints and has a spicy pepper scent
Linnaeus named the genus Monarda in honor of a 16th century Spanish physician and botanist, Nicolas Bautista Monardes (1493-1588). Monardes studied medicinal plants brought back to Spain from the New World.
June Blooms Monarda BeeBalm
The placement of the Peter's Purple Bee Balm* was carefully considered. Enough sunshine to provide a generous flower bloom and airflow to discourage powdery mildew. The puffy purple blooms started appearing two weeks ago and are completing their show this week. I like the purple flowers against the gray of the oak bark. This thrives in both the sunny front, and shady back yards.
Lemon beebalm is an aromatic winter annual with unusual, tuft-like, lavender to pink, whorled flower heads. Each whorl in the elongated spike is subtended by whitish or lavender, leaf-like bracts. Several stems grow from the base and are lined with pairs of lance-shaped leaves. This carpet of pollinator habitat was a visual delight at the Fort Worth Botanical Garden a couple of years ago.
_________________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________________ Known by a number of common names, lemon beebalm is a 1-2 ft., aromatic annual with unusual, tuft-like, lavender to pink, whorled flower heads. Each whorl in the elongated spike is subtended by whitish or lavender, leaf-like bracts. Several stems grow from the base and are lined with pairs of lance-shaped leaves.
Bergamo Beebalm
Monarda Citriodora 'Bergamo'
Linnaeus named thegenusMonarda in honor of a 16th century Spanish physician and botanist, Nicolas Bautista Monardes (1493-1588). Monardes studied medicinal plants brought back to Spain from the New World.
Horsemint has a distinctive citrus or lemony scent when the leaves are rubbed or crushed. It is very easy to grow and often forms large colonies. Bees and butterflies are attracted to this plant
Known by several names, Monarda citriodora, can be called lemon beebalm, purple horsemint, lemon mint, plains horsemint, lemon horsemint, horsemint, and purple lemon mint.
Landscaping with Native Plants of Texas and the Southwest (1991) Miller, G. O.
Native Texas Plants: Landscaping Region by Region (2002) Wasowski, S. and; A. Wasowski
Texas Wildflowers: A Field Guide (1984) Loughmiller, C. and; L. Loughmiller
Texas Wildscapes: Gardening for Wildlife (1999) Damude, N. and; K.C. Bender
Useful wild plants of Texas, the Southeastern and Southwestern United States, the Southern Plains, and Northern Mexico (Volume 1: Abronia-Arundo) (1995) S. Cheatham; M. C. Johnston; L. Marshall
Wildflowers of Texas (2003) Ajilvsgi, Geyata.
Wildflowers of the Texas Hill Country (1989) Enquist, M.
Spiders associated with lemon horsemint in east central Texas, Martin Nyffeler, et al.
Evaluation of the Antifungal Activity of the Essential Oils of Monarda citriodora, Bishop.
Horsemint, Bee Balm, Oswego Tea, is an annual or perennial, coarse aromatic herbs, commonly known as Horsemint. They have square stems and opposite leaves characteristic of the Mint Family, and bear showy red or lavender flowers in clusters.
Linnaeus named thegenusMonarda in honor of a 16th century Spanish physician and botanist, Nicolas Bautista Monardes (1493-1588). Monardes studied medicinal plants brought back to Spain from the New World.
Monardacitriodora Cerv. ex Lag. lemon beebalm
Monarda fistulosa 'Peter's Purple'
"Monarda fistulosa 'Peter's Purple' is a hybrid of Monarda fistulosa 'Claire Grace' and a Mexican species, Monarda barlettii, that occurred in the garden of Texas native plant expert, Peter Loos. It is a clump-forming herbaceous perennial with aromatic, lance-shaped leaves. It has terminal whorls of two-lipped, 2 1/2 in." MBG
The best scents in June are the numerous abelia in flower. The
fountain shaped shrubs are planted along edges of the landscape underneath
native oaks, post and blackjack. The filtered sunlight under the canopy
provides a good balance of shade and sunlight. Several varieties of swallowtail
butterfly use the abelia as a nectar source.
The Herb Garden
The herb garden is loaded
with wonderful scents. Lemon thyme has a sweet lemon scent when rubbed and the
lemon oregano a more savory earthy scent.
Fennel
Fennel is bolting and toppling over as a result of the winds and
rains deposited by tropical storm "Bill".
Basil
Several varieties of basil are patiently waiting for the heat and
sunshine to kick up to full summer strength.
Pineapple Sage
Pineapple sage has never been so robust.
Lavender
Lavender has finally found a happy location surrounded by a mix of
allium species.
Lemon Grass
Lemon grass planted in a large pot made it through the winter. It is a very lanky grass and a true non-wafter. You must rub the leaves vigorously to release the essential oils. Lemon grass (Andropogon citratus) is related to Andropogon nardus,the natural source of citronella
Lovely, wispy, honey scent. If you have a
very sunny spot the blackfoot daisy could become one of your favorite plants.
Daylilies
Before the rainy season started this
daylily bed was clean and tidy. It is now jam packed with plants, many
volunteers. Very pretty but rather chaotic. I try to harvest the larkspur seed in
mid-June so it does not scatter. I add the seed back into the bed in
the spring.
Yellow daylilies, blue
larkspur, and red pineapple sage.
The purplecone flowers
are volunteers but they look at home with the alliums.
Penstemons + Monarda
This bed started as a penstemon trial
area and has evolved into a penstemon and monarda bed plus gaura, tickseeds,
plumeria, white salvia gregii and purple lyre-leaf sage.
Swallowtail Amongst the Lantana
The sun loving lantana, in a border,
attract the swallowtail butterfly. The gold lantana are intermixed with lantana camera to visually break the grouping of yellow flowers. The mass of yellow attract butterfly but can be too intense visually for human sensibilities so yellow, in a landscape, should always be softened or broken up with other colors.
Lovely, wispy, honey scent. If you have a
very sunny spot the blackfoot daisy could become one of your favorite plants.
