Dig This
The bookazine for people who love dirt!

Gardeners love beebalms.  Whether valued for their medicinal or ornamental characteristics, this indigenous genus of 16 species has grown in American gardens since before European settlement.  Native Americans used Monarda didyma and M. fistulosa in various natural medicines to cure everything from skin infections to headaches.  Early colonial gardeners used them in herbal teas, something altogether hip today too.  But their garden value stems from their cultural fondness, a staple of the landscape for generations passed along from one gardener to the next.

By Kelly Norris

Kelly Norris is the founder and editor of Dig This, the bookazine for people who love dirt. He's your best friend in the plant world, addicted to cool plants and the people who grow them. You might say he likes irises too, just a little.