Monarda is a flower that got its name thanks to the Spanish doctor and botanist Nicholas Monardes, who described the properties and characteristics of many useful plants growing in America, which became popular.
Bergamot, American lemon balm, lemon mint - these popular names were often called ordinary monarda. The ancient Indians used the red flowers of the wild monad bifurcation to brew tea that tasted like a similar mint drink. This tea helped with stomach pains and was also an antipyretic.
Monarda has about twelve species, which are mainly chosen by North America. It should be noted that one of the most popular species of this flower is lemon monarda and hybrid monarda.
Being an annual and perennial root plant, it has a straight, branched stem that does not exceed a height of one hundred and fifty centimeters; the leaves are simple toothed, oblong-lanceolate. Monarda flowers are distinguished by a two-lip, which is collected in a thick racemose or capitate form of inflorescence, as well as its small size and fragrant smell of white, red, purple, yellowish or speckled flowers. Inflorescences are most often located one above the other on the stem, and in diameter reach sizes from six to seven centimeters. The advantage of the monarda is its nut fruit, and the stem and inflorescence of the plant have such a wide bouquet of aromas that any flower can envy it. Its most popular aromas are mint and lemon.
Lemon monarda is a decorative flower that reaches a height of up to ninety centimeters and has a spicy taste, the leaves are endowed with a chic pronounced lemon aroma. Inflorescences are represented by five, seven whorls, which have small lilac flowers. Flowering lemon monarda falls in the period from July to August. Being an unpretentious plant, it still needs fertile soil. Monarda is suitable for sunny areas, but it can also grow in places with a slight shadow.
The best time to start sowing the monarda is April. In six to ten days, a little monard will already be born from the earth. Flower in open ground must be planted in May. It should be noted that it is necessary to strictly observe the distance between plants, it should be from thirty to thirty-five centimeters.
Hybrid monarda combines two varieties - double monard and tubular monard. This hybrid of monarda is perennial, has a height of no more than one meter, pure red flowers are small in size, but otherwise it is the same, quite ordinary monarda.
The flower must be provided with a specially prepared place in the fall. To do this, you need to dig the soil, removing weeds, and fertilize, adding two to three kilograms of manure per square meter of land, you also need to add peat or compost (in small quantities), superphosphate - about fifty grams, and potassium salt - about thirty grams. If you are the owner of a site with acidic soil, you need to produce liming, which will require forty grams of lime mortar to be added per square meter of soil.
With the advent of spring, twenty to thirty grams per meter of nitrogen-type fertilizer must be added. If the weather is dry, the monard needs abundant watering, otherwise the appearance of powdery mildew is inevitable. Dry, hot summer soil requires mulching, for which peat or humus is used.
With this care, you will grow a beautiful monard, the flower of which is used by many chefs as a spicy additive to dishes.