Green Roof and Urban Greening Plant, Monarda punctata, Spotted Bee Balm

Undoubtably, Spotted Bee Balm, Monarda punctata should 'bee' a required plant for most if not all North American green roofs, living walls, xeriscapes and urban greening projects.

Green Roof & Urban Greening  Plant, Spotted Bee Balm, Monarda punctata a native wildflower

This week's photos shown here are of the Lamiaceae's (mint family) hardy native growing only a couple hundred yards off Florida's Atlantic ocean shoreline.

Spotted Bee Balm is a pungent native wildflower with a natural range across most of the United States and much of eastern Canada, with a sub-species, M. punctata spp. immaculata endemic to parts of Texas.

Spotted Bee Balm is listed as a historical plant in Kentucky, and protected as endangered in Ohio and Pennsylvania.

Green Roof & Urban Greening  Plant, Spotted Bee Balm, Monarda punctata growing in sand dunes

Importantly, Spotted Bee Balm grows very without additional irrigation in the harshest of places, making her a wonderful landscape plant for xeriscape projects.

As a native wildflower, her nectar attracts many Lepidoptera and other pollinators.

Green Roof & Urban Greening  Plant, Spotted Bee Balm, Monarda punctata, Florida wildflower

Here in Florida, Spotted Bee Balm grows vigorously on the hot, dry beach dunes, across desert-like roadsides and just about anywhere you can find a sandhill or flatwoods.

Green Roof & Urban Greening  Plant, Spotted Bee Balm, Monarda punctata an important permaculture plant

Popular for use in teas, Spotted Bee Balm is high in thymol content and other phytochemicals.

Though often confused in use with Citrus bergamia, the bergamont orange and recognizable component of Earl Grey tea, Spotted Bee Balm tea is reported to possess a calmative effect due to the thymol derivatives found in leaves, terminal buds and flowers.

Green Roof & Urban Greening  Plant, Spotted Bee Balm, Monarda punctata 

For Urban Core greening and green roofs, Spotted Bee Balm is a natural choice.  As a native wildflower, the plant is already adapted to many climates across North America.  Numerous pollinators utilize M. punctata.  Ethnobotanically speaking, the plant has many culinary and medicinal uses.

Spotted Bee Balm can be used as an annual or perennial, depending on the climate's average winter temperatures, but can be counted on to reseed or come back from roots on a reliable basis.

Ideally suited for green roofs, Spotted Bee Balm will provide excellent late summer color and vegetation, long after the Gaillardia and Helianthus have dried and gone to seed.

Green Roof & Urban Greening  Plant, Spotted Bee Balm, Monarda punctata a native wildflower

Seeds are available through numerous internet resources, including Prairie Nursery and Sand Mountain Herbs.