Horsemint is popular with pollinators and appealing to people, too! The fragrance of the leaves and flowers add a new dimension to a landscape. Also known as bee balm, horsemint is native herb worth adding to your garden.
The title "bee balm" refers to bees' appreciation of a plant rather than the plant itself. For this reason, many different species are known commonly as "bee balm." This list includes Monarda didyma, M. fistulosa, and a number not botanically related to horsemint at all. To distinguish this species from others, we use the common name "horsemint" or the scientific name, Monarda punctata