Tuesday, June 29, 2010

A Hummingbird Favorite!

Lots blooming in the garden now.  The hummingbirds should start coming around.  The Monarda didyma or bee balm has started to bloom.  This one is called 'Jacob Kline' and is supposed to be less susceptible to powdery mildew.  We try to have flowers around for the hummingbirds.  Bee balm is also an edible flower.  You should use the flowers in fruit salads or to decorate a plate for dessert.  Of course, the leaves and flowers are used in teas as well.  The leaves were a replacement for tea during the early tea party days!  It is truly one of my favorite flowers in the herbal garden.  Hope you are having a great day wherever you may be.  Talk to you later.


The Herbal Husband wanted you to see our other bee balms.  I keep forgetting that it has been warmer than usual already.  This one is a light pink.

This is the regular magenta bee balm with a dead butterfly bush in the background!  Ooops!  Click on the photo to see both up close!

7 comments:

Kay's flowers said...

Hi Nancy,
I didn't know that about bee balm. Thanks. I knew that hummingbirds liked it but I didn't know you could use it for tea. Have a good evening.

Blessings,
Kay

PeggyR said...

Mine is starting to bloom. They also like my white butterfly bush!

Unknown said...

I love bee balm. It is such a short bloom time here - guess it is too hot.

Question for you... have you ever heard of Elderflower Fritters? Found a recipe here: http://beekman1802.com/general/elderflower-fritters.html

Elderberries - something else that is minimal here.

Anonymous said...

I have always enjoyed my bee balm...no blooms yet here in CT. I remember 2000 being a fantastic year for it when we lived in NH.

Lemon Verbena Lady said...

Glad you stopped by Kay! Hope you see the updated version.

We have a white butterfly bush as well in the front garden and it is getting ready to bloom. Maybe I had better go check and see if it has started! Tomorrow!

You have to move further north, TG. I have heard of elderberry fritters. Hopefully I will have some elderberries to try the recipe! Thanks as always for comments!

I can't remember what happened yesterday, Wendy! Although I do keep records. I will let you know about 2000!

Thanks ladies for stopping by!

Donna said...

Your bee balm is beautiful!! My last blog post was titled SEEING RED, and I'll give you 3 guesses what it was about! (Although I bet you'll only need one guess!!!) - beautiful garden!! Our butterfly bush is right next to our monarda, too... It's alive and green, but no blossoms yet!... Donna

Lemon Verbena Lady said...

Thanks for stopping by Donna! Your blog is beautiful. I'll be stopping by often!