Spotted beebalm champions in sandy soils! It brings light and brightness early in summer, providing fragrant blooms and nectar for pollinators.
Spotted Bee Balm (monarda punctata) – a wonder to behold and rarely found outside of sand prairies. It’s a very unique plant; as tough as it is beautiful. Our spotted bee balm came from seed and was one of the first plants to arrive in our restored native prairie.
Spotted Bee Balm (aka spotted horsemint) can grow from Canada to Florida
In the Minnesota sand plains, spotted bee balm reaches just 2 feet tall. It readily reseeds and is cold and drought tolerant. Our bee balms have survived -43F temperatures and repeated weeks below -20F each winter, yet are the first to arrive in spring.
Like all bee balms, it is highly fragrant. This protects the plants from nibbling animals and may contribute to increased viral protection for bees. We are experimenting with spotted bee balm as an immunosupportive agent in the fight against varroa mites. We will update our results as they become available.
How to Grow Spotted Bee Balm?
Easy! Spotted Bee Balm grows readily from seed. No stratification, scarification, or babying required! We have seed for sale from time to time – check out our store to see if we have any available.
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This article is part of our Native Plant Series and features one pollinator friendly, drought tolerant US native plant hardy to at least zone 4.
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Duffy Meadows Research & Consulting 
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