We’re thinking that maybe Bee Balm should be renamed Bee Bomb. It erupts in the garden in an explosion of red (sometimes purple) bursts and does not calm the bees, butterflies, hummingbirds, and other pollinators, as a balm would.
It makes pollinators crazy with desire to collect all that nectar while it lasts. Female Ruby-Throated Hummingbirds, abandoned by the males after mating, abound in our Bee Balm Patch:
Many Honey and Bumble Bee species feed there and are difficult to tell apart. We're guessing that this is a Northern Amber Bumble Bee (Bombus borealis):
This Eastern Black Swallowtail Butterfly is one of many butterflies competing in the patch:
The Bee Balm plant (Monarda) is native to Northeast America. It was used by Native Americans here for medicinal purposes and its flowers were steeped by them into a tea. When English tea was boycotted by America's colonists after their Tea Party, many Bostonians switched to Bee Balm tea, which they called Oswego Tea.
(Brooklin, Maine)