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There is a plant that has the power to capture your heart with its aesthetic beauty.
The plant effortlessly impresses your taste buds, as well as your nose!
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The same plant also has the potential to attract wildlife to your garden.
This plant, which happens to be an herb, is called wild bergamot. Its other name is monarda fistulosa.
Wild bergamot is a robust perennial that has a lot to offer all gardeners and homesteaders.
Let’s review the many benefits of wild bergamot – including a few of the most vital tips to help grow bergamot in your yard.
Ready? Let’s begin!
Pretty Scarlet Flowers
Wild bergamot produces pretty red flowers that have tube-shaped petals. The leaves on a bergamot plant are a rich shade of green, and they are slightly fuzzy.
The bergamot leaves are also fragrant, and they smell like lemon and mint. A wild bergamot plant can grow to be about 2 or 3 feet in height.
Wild Bergamot Health Benefits
Bergamot boasts a boatload of potential health benefits that feel impossible to overlook.
Not only does bergamot have a reputation for helping to lower cholesterol – but some initial studies suggest that bergamot might also reduce depression and ease joint pain.
Count me in!
Did you know?
Bergamot is a tremendously popular essential oil ingredient. I found this bergamot essential oil on Amazon, and it has over thirty thousand reviews. A handful of customer reviews cited the heavenly fragrance. Nice!
Culinary Use
People who enjoy the taste of fine cuisine will be pleased to know wild bergamot also adds flavor to certain foods.
The leaves from this plant work wonderfully to flavor beverages, and they taste great in tea.
Bergamot leaves also work excellently to flavor pork. If you’re looking for something lighter, then bergamot flowers mix perfectly into fresh garden salads.
Note that if you wish to add bergamot leaves to your food, I recommend that you take the leaves from the plant before it flowers!
The essence wild bergamot imparts tastes citrusy, so try adding small amounts to your next savory dish to see how it contrasts with your favorite flavors.
Butterflies and Hummingbirds
If you would like to see butterflies and hummingbirds flitting about your garden, attract them with wild bergamot!
These charming creatures love bergamot – especially if you add a few hummingbird feeders to your ensemble.
You will love bergamot too! Doubly so when your bergamot attracts a buzzing flock of hummingbirds!
Did you know?
Hummingbirds are a sight to behold – and top experts believe that hummingbirds can see a broad range of colors – no wonder why hummingbirds always find the most brilliant and vividly colored flowers in your garden!
How to Easily Grow Wild Bergamot
If you would like to grow wild bergamot, plant it in a bed of moist soil in a sunny or somewhat shaded location.
Keep the soil moist and free of weeds.
Since wild bergamot is vulnerable to mildew, make sure to remove parts of the plant that show signs of contamination as soon as you notice it.
Also, take action if you see rust fungus, which is another common problem with wild bergamot.
If you’re trying to find quality bergamot seeds, check out a company called Seed Needs! You can snag two 400-seed packets of bergamot for around the cost of a cup of coffee at Starbucks. 100% non-GMO, of course.
References:
The Beginner’s Guide to Edible Herbs; Edward C. Smith and Charles W.G. Smith; 2010
Herbs – Gardens, Decorations, and Recipes; Emelie Tolley and Chris Mead; 1985
DK Jekka McVicar New Book of Herbs; Jekka McVicar; 2002
Home Gardener’s Herb Gardens Specialist Guide; David Squire; 2016
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