What is Happening in the Herb Garden and Kitchens This Week?

by Barbara F. Smith

The Lamiaceae (mint) family is a “cosmopolitan family of aromatic and herbal plants.” Containing more than 7,000 species, it includes some of the most familiar culinary herbs — basil, oregano, rosemary, sage, and mint. (Yes, not all members of the “mint” family are called mint.) Typical characteristics include square stems, opposite leaves and fragrant foliage. This week’s article focuses on two herbs within the mint family.

First up – Monarda fistulosa, also known as bee balm, wild bergamot or horsemint. A plant native to North America, it likely greeted the European colonizers. As one writer put it, “bee balm was used on this continent by Native American nations long before Mediterranean herbs crossed the Atlantic to please European palates.”  Bee balm is native from Ontario to Mexico. 

As noted in “Native American Medicinal Plants,” bee balm was widely used by indigenous people in North America for such widely ranging purposes as treating colds, flu, and fevers, eye ailments, headaches, and kidney ailments, to name a few. The leaves rubbed on bee or wasp stings offer great relief and, "thereby, the apt common name, bee balm.”

The genus Monarda has almost two dozen species, most likely descendants of either Monarda fistulosa or Monarda didyma (scarlet bee balm), or hybrids of the two. Different varieties can be annuals, biennials or perennials, with a wide assortment of fragrances and flavors (think lemon or thyme, for example). Monarda fistulosa has a pungent flavor, similar to oregano. Before using the flowers for cooking, taste them to see whether they would enhance a sweet or savory dish; you may use bee balm leaves or flowers in recipes calling for oregano or thyme.

Clump-forming, bee balm plants grow 2-4 feet tall. These lovely, deer-resistant plants are widespread and abundant, gracing many contemporary gardens with their tubular flowering heads that look like pincushions or fireworks; they make good cut flowers (see photo above). All varieties have lance-shaped leaves on square stems. This long-blooming herb is easy to grow, although susceptible to powdery mildew. Bee balm prefers full sun but will tolerate poor soil and some drought. The plant may flop after heavy rain, so meadow companion plantings can help the display – consider adding echinacea, agastache, helenium, and/or asters nearby to support the bee balm plants. A familiar component of prairie and wild meadow communities of plants, gardeners should be aware of bee balm’s “slightly thuggy” tendencies in spreading by rhizomes.   

Bee balm has lavender or rich pink flowers with distinctive aromatic foliage (other familiar varieties have brighter coloring). The naturally occurring selection “Clair Grace,” pictured above, has some mildew resistance, a sturdy upright habit, and a prolific floral display. Gardeners are encouraged to deadhead spent bee balm flowers to prolong blooming, and once the flowering period is over, to cut the stems back but leave them standing to serve as nesting sites for native bees.

Bee balm is popular with pollinators, including honeybees, native bees, butterflies, moths, and hummingbirds. It is the host plant of the moth “Raspberry Pyrausta” (Pyrausta signatalis) – also nicknamed the “Monarda Marauder,” shown above.

Our second herb of interest this week is a variety of mint called Mentha “Hillary’s Sweet Lemon,” which is thriving in the mint section of the BBG Herb Display Garden. While peppermint and spearmint are likely the most familiar mints, you will find a wonderful collection of mints in the garden: a variegated peppermint variety, orange mint, golden ginger mint, chocolate mint, berries and cream mint, apple mint, and pennyroyal. Gardeners should plan for mints to spread readily or consider container spots for them to grow. In earlier times, dried mints were often the choice for strewing to freshen the air or deter vermin. Dried mints perform well in sachets and potpourri.

Hillary’s Sweet Lemon Mint (HSL), a hybrid between apple mint and lime mint, is a proud achievement of an amateur hybridizer from rural Illinois named Jim Westerfield (who produced more than 60 types of mint). HSL mint has a soft, mild flavor along with the scent of lemon and mint. The plant is described as “quite beautiful” with sprawling stems of fuzzy, silvery-gray leaves and spikes of lavender colored flowers that are popular with pollinators (see the photo above). Developed in the 1990s, HSL is a popular addition to lemonade, mojitos or other cocktails, or to serve as the base for delicious tea. Westerfield named the mint in recognition of the US First Lady at the time, Hillary Rodham Clinton. Medicinally, this mint can be used to help with digestion, nausea or bloating, and to relieve stress or minor cold symptoms.

WHAT’S HAPPENING IN THE BBG KITCHEN?

The Herb Associates “inside” team set some harvested spearmint to dry and stripped and stored leaves of previously dried golden oregano and lemon verbena from their branches for future use.

In the cool kitchen, Herb Associates assembled Lovage Finishing Salt, the latest tasty blend to add a new spark to your chicken, fish or egg dishes. Lovage, you’ll recall, looks and tastes faintly like celery, so you can imagine many uses for the new salt blend. Beautiful handfuls of dark red Perilla (Shiso), the most popular herb in Japanese cuisine (another mint family member), were infused into vinegar and set to steep. Preparation of Tomato Basil Dressing marks the timely harvest of quantities of basil. And a batch of Pure and Simple Fresh Herb Vinegar features a medley of summer’s finest and fragrant culinary herbs: dill, chives, rosemary, and basil. This new product may be adapted into your favorite salad dressing or marinade. The room was scented with delicious aromas as the ingredients were chopped, once again luring passersby to inquire what the source was!

In the warm kitchen, Herb Associate Mary Tierney made a batch of Opal Basil Jelly.  As you might expect from its contents, this jelly has a wonderful, deep pink/red color. Ms. Tierney offered a serving suggestion (should any jelly last until Christmas) to create a simple appetizer. Take a block of cream cheese and slice it in half on the angle from the upper corner to the opposite lower corner. Flip one half and place it so the resulting two sides form a triangle, as in the shape of a Christmas tree. If you like, add a cinnamon stick to serve as the “tree trunk.” Spoon over some of the Opal Basil Jelly and possibly add a star, fashioned from a cut red or yellow pepper. Voila! A festive addition for your charcuterie board.

As ever, these and all the products made by the BBG Herb Associates may be found in the Visitor’s Center Gift Shop. Your purchases help support the Garden.

Particular reference materials: 

Author and horticulturalist Marie Viljoen on Gardenista 7/4/22; Native American Medicinal Plants: An Ethnobotanical Dictionary by Daniel E. Moerman, Timber Press (2009); The Encyclopedia of Herbs by Arthur O. Tucker and Thomas Debaggio, Timber Press (2009)