Comments on: First herbs: bee balm.

By: Sheri Lee Pierce

Sheri Lee Pierce — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 17:13:08 +0000

I also adore bee balm! I like the name “Bee Balm” best, but can appreciate “Sweet Leaf” after having read Matthew Wood’s book, “The Book of Herbal Wisdom”. He says he learned the name “Sweet Leaf” from Native practitioners.

Matthew explains that in at least half a dozen Native languages, the word “sweet” means something “fragrant, tasty or beautiful”, more like the English word “fair”. There is also an added inference, “as if there is an offering of bounteous richness from Mother Nature”.

And that’s bee balm to a tee, eh?

By: Jan S.

Jan S. — Tue, 09 Oct 2007 21:08:33 +0000

I will definatly check out Bee Balm. Very cute photo. I don’t think I have ever seen you in pink before. I like the hat too.

By: Dr. Jayashree Joshi

Dr. Jayashree Joshi — Tue, 09 Oct 2007 02:14:35 +0000

I have enjoyed reading this blog. I hadn’t heard of bee-balm before.
I’m a Holistic Pediatrician in India and I’m interested in all things herbal.
Please look me up on my website http://www.farawaysister.com You will be surprised to see how many herbs have now gone global ( for instance, I use crab apple flower extract – a Bach flower extract – in my practice, though it doesn’t grow here! ).

By: crabappleherbs

crabappleherbs — Thu, 04 Oct 2007 20:20:36 +0000

Wow. Around here, as far as I can tell, bee balm is always one of the three Monardas I mentioned.

And yes, our M. fistulosa does taste somewhat like oregano. But not *exactly* like it. I’ve had some western ones that really tasted *just* like oregano.

By: Kiva Rose

Kiva Rose — Wed, 03 Oct 2007 21:08:51 +0000

Oh, people round here call the Agastaches bee balm a lot, and in PA I heard people call lemon balm beebalm, and there was some tree in the SE they called Bee Balm too, but I don’t know what it is.

Here they call Agastache pallida horsemint or dragonhead or beebalm, which is confusing since it isn’t any of those things. And they call Monarda fistulosa var. menthaefolia (the higher elevation Monarda here) Oregano de la Sierras or Mexican Oregano or just Wild Oregano which makes sense cuz it tastes just like Oregano. Does yours?

By: crabappleherbs

crabappleherbs — Wed, 03 Oct 2007 16:08:55 +0000

Darcey, I’ve usually heard only Monarda punctata called horsemint. Have you heard it applied to others too?

Which non-Monarda plants have you heard called bee balm, Kiva?

By: Kiva Rose

Kiva Rose — Tue, 02 Oct 2007 15:41:45 +0000

I like bee balm as a name too, but I’ve heard it applied to other plants as well, which makes it confusing. I use Monarda as a default, and I do hate doing anything by default. hrrrmmm.

Love the pic!

By: darcey

darcey — Tue, 02 Oct 2007 15:26:40 +0000

yay for bee balm! here the wildflower books call it horsemint. GAH!