Scarlet Beebalm

Growing Scarlet Beebalm

Wants more moisture and richer soil than wild bergamot. Divide every few years to keep clumps vigorous and reduce mildew.

Where it belongs

Scarlet beebalm, also called Oswego tea, is native to the Northeast, the Mid-Atlantic, the mountains of the Southeast, and parts of the Midwest. In the wild it grows in moist ground at woodland edges, along streams, and in bottom land where the soil is rich.

It is worth being clear about how it differs from wild bergamot, its lavender cousin, because the two get sold interchangeably and want opposite things. Wild bergamot is a dry-prairie plant that shrugs at drought. This one wants moisture and fertility, and it sulks in the lean, sunny, well-drained spot where bergamot thrives.

Growing it

Full sun to part sun, medium to wet soil, loam or clay, zones 4 to 9. It runs thirty inches to four feet.

It spreads by shallow runners into a widening mat, which is easy to manage: pull the outer growth in spring, or lift and divide the whole clump every two or three years. Division is not optional maintenance so much as the thing that keeps it flowering well, because the center of an old clump dies out.

Powdery mildew is the recurring complaint. It is a moisture and airflow issue rather than a disease you fight with a spray. Give it room, do not crowd it against a fence, water at the base rather than over the leaves, and thin the stems in spring. Some plants will still gray up by August, which is cosmetic.

What it feeds

The flower is a whorl of long red tubes, and that shape and color are aimed at hummingbirds. Ruby-throats work it hard through July and August, which is exactly when their young have fledged and demand is highest.

Bumblebees get in from the front; smaller bees often cut in at the base of the tube instead. Sphinx moths visit at dusk. Fritillaries and swallowtails come for it as well.

Living with it

Deer generally leave it alone, since the whole plant is aromatic. Crushed leaves smell strongly of oregano and thyme, and they have a long history of use as a tea, which is where the Oswego name comes from.

Leave stems standing over winter. Stem-nesting bees use hollow perennial stems, and cutting everything to the ground in fall removes that. Cut back in spring to about a foot, then again once new growth is up.

Sources: USDA PLANTS Database (native status and range); Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center, University of Texas at Austin (species profile); Cornell Lab of Ornithology (hummingbird plantings).

It’s fragrant, showy, and long-blooming.

Where it grows

Scarlet Beebalm is native to the Northeast. In the wild you’ll find it across Alabama · Arkansas · Connecticut · Delaware · Florida · Georgia · Illinois · Indiana · Iowa · Kentucky and 24 more states. Always confirm it suits your specific county with your state native plant society before planting.

Regional Garden has written state guides covering Scarlet Beebalm in 34 of them so far.

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