What’s Coming Up In The Garden, 50: Appalachian bergamot

This is new in the potager and is Monarda fistulosa, and a variant of the one I have in the front bed. It should look very similar to the Monarda punctata I love so much, but is different enough that I wanted to have it on November Hill. When both species and two variants of fistulosa are blooming, I’ll do comparison shots and see if we can nail the variants of each.

For now, it’s looking like this, the grouping on the far right:

It’s raining today, or I’d go out to get a closer photo.

One of the things I love about the NC Botanical Garden is that they curate unusual variants of species and you can often find things there that aren’t available commercially. This seems to be one of those variants.

Another interesting thing I’m learning as I garden alongside my native plant study classes is that many of the plants I gravitate to are in the Lamiaceae family. It’s fun to find a plant I love by its bloom and foliage and then learn that yes, it’s another member of this very beautiful family of plants.

Here’s a delightful blog I found that has photos of several species of Monarda, including the Appalachian bergamot I’m planting here. If you scroll down to the Monardas and then click on the different species you can multiple photos of each one. A truly lovely blog, so do peruse it further while you’re there!

GO HERE