Spacing & sowing

Plant spacing

17.7 in

In-row spacing

17.7 in

Between rows

19.7 in

Square-foot density

1 per square

Calendar (from your frost dates)

Sow indoors

49 days before the last spring frost

Plant out

at the last spring frost

First harvest

80 days after the last spring frost

Harvest ends

at the first fall frost

Growing

Type

Flower · Perennial

Botanical family

Mixed / other

Sunlight

Full sun to part shade

Watering

Moderate

Soil

Rich, moist

Feeding

Compost mulch in spring, and keep the nitrogen modest.

USDA zones

4a–9b

Frost tolerant

Yes

Flowering

July

Pruning

Cut it to the ground in autumn, and lift and divide the clump every two or three years.

Through the year

• Mar–Jul Spring Growth
• Jul–Sep Flowering
• Sep–Oct Growing
• Oct–Dec Leaf Fall
• Jan–Mar Leaf Fall

Harvest

When

Edible and herbal as well as ornamental (Monarda — bergamot). Pick leaves for tea any time, best just before flowering; pick flowers freshly open mid-morning in high summer; cut vase stems in cool morning.

What to look for

Flowers at peak when the shaggy whorl is fully colored and individual tubular florets pull out with a drop of nectar at the base. Leaves most aromatic pre-bloom. Vase stems: first florets open on the whorl.

How to harvest

Snip stems above a leaf pair; for tea, cut the top third of leafy stems. Pull individual florets to scatter on salads (spicy-oregano flavor). Get vase stems into water immediately.

How often

Regular cutting and deadheading extends bloom 4–6 weeks; cutting also improves airflow, which matters — monarda is a powdery-mildew magnet.

Storing the crop

Vase life 5–7 days. Leaves and florets dry quickly on screens and keep a year airtight — the classic Oswego tea. Refrigerate fresh florets in a damp-towel-lined box for a day or two only.

Companions

Echinacea, Phlox, Grasses, Rudbeckia

Pests & problems

• Slugs & snails Slugs on the young growth
• Powdery mildew Powdery mildew, which this plant gets in most seasons

Garden allies

Beneficial predators that hunt this plant's pests — grow their favourite flowers nearby to recruit them. ★ companion plant

• Beneficial nematodes Steinernema & Heterorhabditis spp.
  Hunts Slugs & snails

  Microscopic worms watered onto damp soil that hunt down soil-dwelling grubs and release a bacterium that kills them within days. Timing is the whole thing: warm, damp soil and a small target grub, which means late summer for most of what they are used against.

• Centipedes Chilopoda
  Hunts Slugs & snails

  Flat, fast, one pair of legs to a segment — and a predator, unlike the slow round millipede it is constantly confused with. It hunts slugs, cutworms, springtails and woodlice by night under mulch and stones. Learn the difference and leave this one alone.

• Frogs & toads Anura
  Hunts Slugs & snails

  A resident toad works the beds every night for slugs, cutworms, and weevils. Recruit them with water — even a sunken basin pond — plus damp shade and an upturned-pot toad house; skip the slug pellets that poison their prey.

• Garden birds Passeriformes
  Hunts Slugs & snails

  Both things are true: birds strip your currants and a brood of blue tits takes several thousand caterpillars out of one fruit tree in a fortnight. Net what you must and welcome them everywhere else — a nest box near the apples is worth more than a spray.

  Plant nearby EchinaceaElderberryEnglish hollyGoldenrodRudbeckiaSunflowerTeaselViburnum
• Ground beetle Carabidae
  Hunts Slugs & snails

  Fast, glossy night hunters that patrol the soil surface for slugs, cutworms, and root-fly larvae. Give them daytime cover — thick perennial edges, stepping stones, a log — and skip the tillage that wrecks their burrows.

  Plant nearby LavenderMintThyme
• Hedgehog Erinaceus europaeus
  Hunts Slugs & snails

  A European animal, and worth saying so plainly: there are no hedgehogs in North America, and the ally that does the same night shift here is the toad, the opossum or the ground beetle. Where they do occur, cut a gap in the fence and skip the pellets.

• Rove beetle Staphylinidae
  Hunts Slugs & snails

  Slim, quick beetles with short wing cases that hunt in soil and litter, taking root-fly eggs and larvae, fungus-gnat larvae, and mites. Mulch and undisturbed ground keep them resident year-round.

  Plant nearby MintThyme
• Salamanders & newts Caudata
  Hunts Slugs & snails

  Damp-loving hunters of slugs, worms, woodlice and beetle larvae that spend the day under a log or a stone and work the beds at night. Companions to the toads: they want the same damp shade, the same log pile, and the same absence of slug pellets.

• Snakes & lizards Colubridae & Phrynosomatidae
  Hunts Slugs & snails

  A garter snake works the beds for slugs and voles and a fence lizard clears grasshoppers off a sunny wall. Almost every snake a gardener meets is harmless and useful; give them a log pile, a warm flat stone and a bit of cover and they stay.

Companion planting

Good neighbors

• Tomato Draws pollinators, Improves flavor