© Janet Davis
September 2009
Is there a perfect plant in your
garden? In four decades of gardening,
I’ve had several serious relationships with a host of plants. There was a passion for peonies 
(especially sweet-scented beauties like ‘Monsieur Jules Elie’); a
brief honeymoon with hostas (particularly slug-resistant ones such as Hosta sieboldiana ‘Elegans’); and a
romance with rhododendrons (rugged, small-flowered rhodos are my favorite). I
lusted after lilies and grew fond of ornamental grasses, giving each pride of
place in my city garden.
But by the time I began to garden in the country eight years ago, I had become rather bored with growing pretty plants just for me. I wanted a garden to attract bees, butterflies and birds, rather than adhere to an aesthetically pleasing architectural framework. With this in mind – and with raw construction-site soil to keep on a hillside -- I planted a series of naturalistic beds and meadows around my summer cottage that would be easy to maintain while providing nectar, pollen and seeds for wildlife. By combining a small number of nursery plants with a large-scale seeding of sun-loving, drought-tolerant prairie perennials, I created a colorful tapestry that fills me with joy and fills the air with bumblebees, monarch butterflies, chipping sparrows and chickadees. In time, the meadows will revert to the white pines, red oaks and blueberries indigenous to the property, but as transient gardens they fill me with delight.
Of all the summer flowers in the meadows,
none succeeds at nurturing wildlife quite as well as wild bergamot, Monarda fistulosa. Although there is another
story on my website about the entire bergamot clan, I felt that this little
wildling deserved its own 
special page. Why? Because,
hands down, it’s the ultimate champion at attracting bees, butterflies and
birds. Bees, of course, give the plant
its other common moniker: beebalm. Those little pink floral tubes, or “fistulosa” in Latin, are brimming with
nectar and perfectly suited to the proboscis of the bumblebee, in particular. But butterflies also love 
nectaring on bergamot, as do hummingbirds. And this September, I had fun photographing
American goldfinches pecking patiently at the tiny seeds in the spent
flowerheads.
Not only is wild bergamot a great wildflife lure, it’s also a beautiful addition to the mid-summer meadow, self-seeding generously yet easy to pull out if it becomes too invasive. It also spreads by shallow underground rhizomes. I combine it with foxglove penstemon (Penstemon digitalis), false ox-eye sunflower (Heliopsis helianthoides), blackeyed susans (Rudbeckia hirta), cup plant (Silphium perfoliatum) and various species of goldenrod (Solidago spp.).
Monarda fistulosa is simple to grow, especially in dry, sandy soil where it reaches approximately 2-1/2 to 4 feet (75-120 cm) in height. Too much irrigation combined with rich soil will cause the plant to flop. A member of the mint family, wild bergamot features strong, square stems that hold it upright (and support those hungry birds). It has a lovely, delicate, oregano scent and makes an excellent cut flower too.
As a North American native, wild bergamot is mentioned frequently in
ethnobotany. The Iroquois made a
beverage from the plants while the Ojibwa placed a wad of chewed leaves in their
nostrils to treat headache. Other
tribes used wild bergamot as a tea, the ingredient in a medicinal sweat bath, a
cure for acne and numerous other potions.
Now for the drawbacks. In a “tidy” garden, wild bergamot will often call attention to itself for its unfortunate tendency to develop powdery mildew, especially in a wet or very humid summer. More drought-tolerant than its refined cousin scarlet beebalm (Monarda didyma), wild bergamot nevertheless tends to flower and set seed quite quickly when weather is very dry for a prolonged period. In a cool summer, it will flower over a long period, providing a beautiful and airy framework for the ubiquitous, yellow daisies of July and August. By the end of summer, wild bergamot can look the worse for wear. Thus, it’s really a better choice for naturalistic meadow designs or for gardeners who believe that the garden can be a welcoming, if not always aesthetically perfect, place for all of nature’s creatures, not just the human species.