Monarda bradburiana 'Midnight Oil' - EASTERN BEEBALM 'Midnight Oil' (darker leaves, early flowering & short)

'Midnight Oil' = red-purple and glossy new leaves. The first North American cultivar selected from Monarda bradburiana and offered on the market! Several cultivars are available in Europe, but so far none in USA.

Flowers 3-4 weeks before tall monardas. Introduced by Brent Horvath, Intrinsic Perennial Gardens, Hebron, Illinois.

18" tall x 18-24" wide clumps. Leaves turn greenish later on. Some reddish fall coloration (with colder nights). Ornamental seedheads appear immediately in second half of June and persist till winter months (or until you cut them down).

Early bloomer - light pink flowers with wine red colored spots in mid May to about mid June.

Well behaved - slowly grows into mounds, long-lived and trouble free perennial.

Selected for great vigor and clean foliage.

Full sun, half shade, average soil to dry soil. Adaptable (shallower, loam, sandy, rocky, clay). Don't plant to waterlogged soils.

Hardy in zones 4 to 8.

Pollinator friendly - attracts butterflies, bumblebees, some small native bees. Aromatic foliage deters deer and rabbit.

Black walnut tolerant. Heat, humidity and drought tolerant.

Patented, unlicensed propagation is prohibited.

Best in sunny to half shade flower bed, or in dry half shade to lighter shade.  Can b combined with majority of common perennials for sun or half shade - for average (medium moist) to dry soils.

Meets in bloom with Paeonia, Iris x barbata (bearded Iris), Salvia nemorosa cultivars, Penstemon digitalis (and it's cultivars) - so it is perfect perennial that blooms when spring is over and summer flowers didn't show up yet.

Seedheads turn dark brown and contrast nicely especially against grasses or Calamintha grandiflora.

Universal filler for the front or center of the bed.

Pot size : square 3.5" x 4" perennial pot

Picture copyright : US Perennials