We spent 13 years building an abundant fruit forest, annual veggie beds, perennial medicinal herbs, and a healthy mixed hardwood-coniferous forest and now we’ve sold our property to the next stewards so that we can begin a new homesteading project in Vermont closer to our best friends and their kids.

Don’t worry - we plan to keep this website up and running so that our customers can reference what we’ve written about our plants!

We’ll let you know once we re-start a farm in Vermont!

Scarlet Beebalm

Monarda didyma

This variety produces 3-foot tall displays of crimson red inflorescences composed of tubular flowers. It is a sight to see! A favorite for hummingbirds.

Butterflies, bees, and other pollinators flock to these showy and fragrant edible flowers in late spring and early summer.  Beebalms are cold hardy and perennial herbs that grow to 1-3 feet tall and then die back to the ground in fall before sprouting again in spring.  There are several different varieties native to various parts of North America, from Canada to the eastern and western US.  They like rich, moist garden soil and full sun to part shade.

The herb and flowers are used as a flavorful tea (the aroma is like orange bergamot).  The flowering tops and leaves are fragrant, antiseptic, antibacterial, antifungal, diaphoretic, carminative, and contain thymol and carvacrol, which are under investigation for their action against tumors.