PERENNIAL: Monarda fistulosa (Wild Bergamot)

Monarda fistulosa (Wild Bergamot) mature leaves and flower buds.

Monarda fistulosa (Wild Bergamot) with two-spotted bumble bee

Bilabiate flowers with tubular upper lip and 3-lobed lower lip of Monarda fistulosa (wild bergamot) in June.

Monarda fistulosa (Wild Bergamot) flowers open from the center to the periphery

Monarda fistulosa (Wild Bergamot) with eastern tiger swallowtail butterfly

Monarda fistulosa (Wild Bergamot) in landscape

Four nutlets develop within each calyx of Monarda fistulosa (wild bergamot)

Monarda fistulosa (Wild Bergamot) seed heads in February

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Tried and True Native Plant Selections for the Mid-Atlantic

This showy mint family member boasts a fragrance similar to bergamot oranges. Its aromatic leaves are used in herbal tea. Flowers attract many pollinators, especially bees. Seed heads attract small birds. The Virginia Native Plant Society named Wild Bergamot* Wildflower of the Year in 1993.

*It is native in DC, Maryland and in the Piedmont of Delaware. It is native in about two-thirds of the counties in PA. In VA, it is frequent in the Piedmont, common in the mountains, and rare in the Coastal Plain (it is absent in Prince William County).

Learn more about Monarda fistulosa and watch a video of some of the pollinators it attracts.