Monarda bradburiana

Common name: Bradbury's Monarda, Eastern Bee Balm

This bee balm may not make the best Earl Grey tea, but it will brighten up the perennial garden. Flowers range in colour from purple and lilac into the pink range.

It is a great plant for insects, bees and hummingbirds. Many people don't know that it is also long-lived in flower arrangements.

Ideal conditions: grows best in dry open woods or at the woodland edge, with water in dry periods

Flowers: mostly lilac to pink; 60-75cm (25-30") in height; blooms July-Sept

Foliage: green aromatic leaves, 50-60 cm (20-25") tall

Companions:

• Panicum Heavy Metal
• Panicum Prairie Sky
• Sporobolus heterolepis
• Valeriana officianalis

Coldest zone: 4-8 (find your zone; further info on plant hardiness)