Monarda - Bee Balm

Wild Bergamot Monarda didyma is blooming now in the buffer around the pond.
Also known as bee balm, horsemint, oswego tea, bergamot, wild bergamot, mintleaf beebalm, horse-mint, purple beebalm.

Monarda species are used as food plants by the larvae of some Lepidoptera (butterfly and moth) species.

Even before it blooms, the plant becomes colorful and promises its flowers will be interesting in structure (below).

raided nest

Many Painted Turtles Chrysemys picta live in our pond. They mate once a year; in Minnesota, it is usually late May or June. Usually, Painted Turtles lay between 4 and 15 eggs. This year, the females looked for nest sites with soft sandy soil, even if they have to cross lawns and rocky shores.


One found a good spot on the sunny slope above the pond. Because she knows her hatchlings will instinctively head straight for the water, from here their short trip will be downhill.  She dug a shallow hole with her hind feet, and deposited her eggs.  She covered the hole carefully and returned to the water, her job done for this season.

The eggs usually hatch about 72 days later, in late August or early September.  Unfortunately, turtle nests are often discovered by birds, raccoons or skunks, who make a meal of the eggs.  It's not unusual for many of painted turtle eggs to be lost to predators.  We found a few raided turtle egg nests like this one . . .  the eggs eaten and the shells strewn around the hole.

milkweed and tomatoes

My garden has been invaded by Common Milkweed Asclepias syriaca that used to grow closer to the woods.  I usually let some of the stems come up inside the fence; they bloom among the herbs and vegetables so their scent fills the air as I weed and tend the crops.  This week, they are beginning to open and release that fragrance!  The garden is a delight of tomato vines, greens, beans, peas, squash vines, and scented herbs.

borage blooming among the tomato vines

pollinator on tomato blossom