'Fireball' Bee Balm

They make Bergamot oil from this . It's lovely in a burner.

I'll have to study up on my oil making....lol. I love the smell. I've taken two cuttings to carry in the house in case this doesn't come through winter, but it should.

I sewed some seeds of it this year but I couldn't look after anything properly because my mother became very ill - and that took all my attention. I'll have to try again next year.

great close up.lovely colour.

very nice colours GT. Good pic!!

Thank you Suey and OB. :-) So sad to see this one finishing. Its been great.

Love Beebalms......!

I love this Fireball, GT. I saw this for the first time this year at work. It's gorgeous. I just love Beebalm....so do the bees, butterflies and hummingbirds. There is always activity around mine. :o)

Thank you! :-)

I've much more activity around these after pulling out the fireweed. The hot dry summer has been great for a long bloom, but yesterdays rain, though welcome, annihilated the shape and flattened the dead petals over the live ones....lol. I'm going to try my hand with sorting them out. :-)

What sort of height do these grow GT and spread?

Thinking for my border I'll be putting in next to path. Will be next year prob but still very interested.....

Mine are about 2ft tall. This is my first year but my understanding is that it spreads quickly so it is easily propragated. Might even spread aggressively. Would fill a back real nice or a mid border. Seems to like sun here, but we have different sun. I loke the smell so I'd put them somewhere I can brush on them to smell.

Wow! that's a really great colour~ What I like about beebalm (just made a typo and it looked like a good adjective beeblam! beebalm...hahaha..) is the fact that they are so hardy and well suited to NA gardens... as long as you keep the clumps divided and fresh they will go on forever! Their heavenly smell draws bees like a magnet and butterflies and hummingbirds too!

I cannot wait to spread them all around Lori. Is it best to divide them each year? I'm thinking they spread quickly so I probably could.

I let mine go for 2 or 3 years before I divide them GT. They do multiply fairly quickly but I wouldn't call them aggresive. They stay in a nice clump....the clump just gets wider and wider. LOL

My Jacob Cline beebalm are between 3 and 4 feet tall. My Marshall's Delight are about 3 feet or slightly over and my Prairie Night are no more than 3 feet.

You can collect seed from them too although you usually have to work at getting the seed out of the seed head. It doesn't come out easily. Stick the seed in the fridge for a few weeks and then plant it up. It sprouts easily.

I adore pink so this is a definite favourite for me! I tried one of these a couple of years ago but it got a kind of mildew and lost most of its leaves so I'm reluctant to try it again but the bees loved it for the brief time it was with me.

Oooo, thanks for the info Gilli. I'll be trying to take seed as well. I've got some cuttings started up that took very well. I'm glad it isn't as aggressive as I imagined.

This color is bright and wonderful Tess, it does have some strange grey spots in some lower leaves. I wonder if that is what you were getting? I should remove them. There is much more moisture there than here. Seems like it would enjoy hot and dry.