Spotted bee balm
Monarda punctata · Lamiaceae
Tiers of pale yellow, purple-spotted flowers sit on whorls of showy pink-lavender bracts, stacked up the stem like a pagoda. It grows in dry, sandy soil.
- Size
- 24 in tall, 12 in wide
- Zones
- 3 to 8
- Light
- Full sun
- Flowers
- Mid July to early September
- Pets
- No toxicity recorded
- Job in a bed
- Accent
A bed built around spotted bee balm
The planner designed this bed around spotted bee balm when this page was made: a 12 × 6 ft (3.7 × 1.8 m) cottage garden in zone 6, full sun. It chose the other plants from the 715 that suit those conditions and its dry soil, and says below why spotted bee balm stands where it does.
The plants
- 1 Spotted bee balm × 3, pink
- 2 Winter heath × 9, white
- 3 Sea thrift × 5, pink
- 4 New England aster 'Alma Pötschke' × 3, pink
- 5 Hyssop 'Blue Boa' × 5, purple
- 6 Silver sage × 1, silver leaves
- 7 Blue allium × 8, blue
- 8 Ornamental onion 'Purple Sensation' × 5, purple
Why this plant
- Nothing here is unique to it. Its leaf, flower shape and colour are all on the plan already. Its case rests on where it stands and when it performs.
Why here
- In the middle. At 24 in it is the step between winter heath (10 in) in front and hyssop 'Blue Boa' (3 ft) behind: each is seen over the one before.
- 3 plants in 3 places. An accent is a punctuation mark: the repeat along the bed gives it rhythm.
Why now
- In flower for 9 weeks. From mid July to early September.
- Part of the bed's peak. With New England aster 'Alma Pötschke' and hyssop 'Blue Boa' in late August: 3 kinds at once. No week has more.
Planned as a cottage garden: 26 of the 26 plants (100%), bulbs aside, stand alone or in groups of no more than five, small enough for the kinds to mingle. The back corners are held by hyssop 'Blue Boa' and New England aster 'Alma Pötschke', the tallest plants on the plan. Winter heath repeats along the bed to tie it together.
The planner's own design check: 14 Excellent, 3 Good. It flags one thing to watch: Nothing on this plan is highly poisonous or an aggressive spreader.
Open this bed in the planner Change its size, the sun or the style, move plants about, or swap one for another.
Where spotted bee balm goes in a border
At 24 in it belongs in the middle of a bed. In the planner's ten height classes it is medium short (18 to 24 in).
Its job: accent. An upright plant used singly, like a punctuation mark, and repeated at intervals to give the bed rhythm.
The coloured bracts last for weeks after the flowers. It looks exotic, and it is one of the best plants there is for beneficial insects. It needs sharp drainage.
- Dry, sandy soil
- Pollinator gardens, especially for beneficial wasps
- Unusual cut flowers
What to plant with spotted bee balm
Plants recorded as good partners for it, and what each pairing does:
- Little bluestem: its blue-green leaves are a setting for the flowers, before and after; happy in the same dry soil.
- Prairie dropseed: in flower together for four weeks, from mid August; happy in the same dry soil.
- Rattlesnake master: in flower together for seven weeks, from mid July; bold leaves against its medium ones; tall enough (4 ft) to stand behind it.
Questions about spotted bee balm
Does spotted bee balm need sun or shade?
Spotted bee balm grows in full sun (6 or more hours of direct sun a day).
It wants dry, sharply drained soil, on the lean side, with no feeding, and little watering once settled. Once settled in, it stands drought.
What zones does spotted bee balm grow in?
USDA zones 3 to 8. It is hardy to zone 3, which means it survives winter nights down to about −30 °F (−34 °C).
Above zone 8 it struggles: the zones measure winter cold, but a plant's top zone usually means the summers are too hot or the winters too mild for it to rest.
Gardening in Canada? Use the USDA zone for your town: Canada's own zone map uses different numbers.
When does spotted bee balm flower in my zone?
In zone 5 it flowers mid July to early September. As a summer flower it moves about half a week for every zone: earlier where it is warmer.
| Zone 3 | Mid July to early September |
|---|---|
| Zone 4 | Mid July to early September |
| Zone 5 | Mid July to early September |
| Zone 6 | Mid July to early September |
| Zone 7 | Early July to early September |
| Zone 8 | Early July to early September |
Worked out from Hopkins' bioclimatic law: spring arrives about four days later for each degree of latitude north, and one zone is roughly two degrees. A warm spring or a cold one moves any garden two weeks either way.
How far apart should spotted bee balm be planted?
12 in (30 cm) apart, from the middle of one plant to the middle of the next. That is about its full width, so each plant keeps its own outline.
It grows 24 in (60 cm) tall. Give it the full distance from anything taller, or it will lean out towards the light.
How many spotted bee balm plants do I need?
At 12 in apart, set out in staggered rows:
- 12 to fill 10 square feet (about 1 m²)
- 11 for a single row 10 ft (3 m) long
- 38 to fill a 4 × 8 ft bed on its own
In a mixed border, plant it as one at a time, repeated along the bed at intervals; a slender one reads better as a clump of three.
In the bed above, the planner used three in three groups.
Is spotted bee balm poisonous to dogs and cats?
No toxicity is recorded for dogs, cats, horses or people, according to NC State Extension.
"Not toxic" is not "edible": a pet that eats a lot of any plant can be sick.
Do deer eat spotted bee balm?
Mostly not. NC State lists it as resistant to deer and rabbits. No plant is proof against a hungry deer in a hard winter, but this one is low on the menu.
Will spotted bee balm spread?
It seeds itself about; the risk of it taking over is moderate. Short-lived, but keeps going by self-seeding. Thin or move seedlings where they are not wanted.
What flowers after spotted bee balm?
Spotted bee balm is over by early September. These start as it finishes and carry the same spot on, so it never goes flat:
- Garden chrysanthemum: from mid September to late October, 24 in tall.
- Bottle gentian: from late August to early October, 20 in tall.
- October daphne: from mid September to late October, 8 in tall, to stand in front of it and cover its fading stems.
What does spotted bee balm look like in winter?
Spotted bee balm dies down, but leave the stems standing: the seed heads stand through the winter, and songbirds eat the seed. Cut them down in early spring, before the new shoots come.
Is spotted bee balm good for bees and butterflies?
Spotted bee balm is visited by pollinators, bees, specialist bees, butterflies, moths, hummingbirds, beneficial insects and songbirds.
It is a host plant: the caterpillars of gray marvel feed on its leaves. A butterfly can only lay its eggs on its host plants, so these do more for it than any nectar flower.
It is native to the United States and Canada.
More Monarda
- Bee balm Monarda didyma
- Bee balm 'Jacob Cline' Monarda didyma 'Jacob Cline'
- Bee balm 'Petite Delight' Monarda 'Petite Delight'
- Bee balm 'Purple Rooster' Monarda didyma 'Purple Rooster'
- Bee balm 'Raspberry Wine' Monarda 'Raspberry Wine'
- Eastern bee balm Monarda bradburiana
- Wild bergamot Monarda fistulosa
In these guides
- Plants for wet soil and rain gardens
- Deer-resistant perennials for full sun
- Rabbit-resistant plants
- Drought-tolerant perennials for full sun
- Pet-safe plants for a sunny border
- Native perennials for pollinators
- Garden plants native to Canada
- Plants for hummingbirds
- Plants for butterflies
- Plants for bees
- Plants that feed garden birds
Zone guides: Zone 3 · Zone 4 · Zone 5 · Zone 6 · Zone 7 · Zone 8
Every fact on record
- Type
- Perennial
- Size
- 24 in (60 cm) tall, 12 in (30 cm) wide
- Plant
- 12 in (30 cm) apart
- Height class
- Medium short (18 to 24 in)
- Place in the bed
- Middle
- Flowers
- Mid July to early September; pink, yellow
- Leaves
- Medium texture, herbaceous; green
- Shape
- Upright, self-seeding
- Hardy in
- USDA zones 3 to 8
- Light
- Full sun
- Soil
- Lean, dry and sharply drained
- Water
- Low
- Feeding
- None needed
- Family
- Lamiaceae
- Comes from
- Eastern USA
- Attracts
- Pollinators, bees, specialist bees, butterflies, moths, hummingbirds, beneficial insects, songbirds
- Host plant for
- Gray marvel
- Stands up to
- Deer, rabbits, drought, wet soil, poor soil
Checked against NC State Extension and VASCAN (plants of Canada). Flowering times are for zone 5: later in colder zones, earlier in warmer ones. Toxicity and spread information is a general gardening guide, not veterinary or medical advice, and invasive status varies by region. If a person or pet eats a plant, contact poison control or a vet. Check your local invasive species list before planting anything with a spread warning.