Has anyone here had experience growing bergamots? I'm referring to lemon bergamot, orange bergamot, and Monarda Didyma, which may or may not be known by another name...Thank you.
Bergamots, lemon, orange, or the red types
I've grown several varieties of Monarda, Marshall's Delight, Jakob Kline, Rose-Scented, Blue Stocking, Raspberry Wine and a few others that I don't know the cultivar names of. They tend to like moister conditions and the more moisture they have, the more sun they can take.
Well, I ordered two bergamots, thinking to receive orange scented tea herbs, and I'm fairly sure I rec'd a Monarda, identical to those in your pic, in fact, (pink, maybe Marshall's delight?) I also rec'd another plant labeled "bergamot", which looks completely unlike the first plant, in fact, it looks like a very large leafed mint variety. I only have one of this plant and don't wish to remove leaves from it to crush and sniff for identification, so I'm not really sure what this plant may be. The first plant is somewhat blue green, like the plants in your pic, the second plant has a deep green color like mints or nettles, but no bloom yet. Guess I'll have to wait to ID it, but I'm fairly sure that one of these plants is mis-labelled, since they're so radically different. Wonder if my nine-year-old , who helped me unpack the herbs, accidentally misplaced one of the plant markers?
There is an orange bergamot mint plant, did you get that one? i've had lemon bergamot mint plant at one time too but my son decided to spray it with round up at one time and now it's gone LOL imagine that, round up does kill out mint. I would think that when a nursery calls monarda bergamot that it's just plain old monarda unnamed.
Kathy-ann, yes, I've had orange mint before, but I don't at this time, our apt. mngrs. decided one day, out of the blue, that they didn't wish me to have a container garden*, and I gave mine to my daughter, who unfortunately didn't keep it alive. (*We had a new asst. mgr. that wanted to assure herself that the tenants here were toeing the line, we often get these types of silly edicts from her. I was heart broken, but I complied, as I enjoy the area I live in.) Anyway, back to the subject, I no longer have orange mint. This plant does resemble a mint, but isn't throwing out runners like mints do, or at least, it hasn't yet. I crushed a small lower leaf on this plant today, and it smells more like sage, even though it resembles mint in form and color. I've been looking at sage and clary sage, but clary sage has a rounder more scalloped leaf edge. This is definitely not an orange mint, which I would like to have again, and am hoping to trade for, at some point, since I'm on a budget at this time, and won't be placing plant orders for a while. I'm hoping to have a better idea of what this plant is once it blooms....wish I had a camera and could post a pic of this plant in the plant ID forum.
Cyra, were you trying to make your own Earl Grey tea? If so, the bergamot in that is not the herb bergamot. It is the bergamot orange, which is a bitter orange. The black tea leaves are flavored with the oil of the bergamot orange, not oil of the herb bergamot.
I didn't realize there was an herb called orange bergamot, it's not a mint? Cause my orange bergamot looks like amint.
just wondering.
I know there's an orange mint and but is there an orange bergamot mint?
Nope, Herbalbetty, I wasn't trying to make Earl Grey tea, I purchase mine, as it's flavoring is made from a small type of citrus fruit, the best is produced in Italy, I believe. The bergamot flavoring, that is.
But I do like mint tea with a hint of orange flavour, and here in CA, in our hot climate, the citrus flavoring of certain mints becomes very concentrated and pronounced; I'll bet that citrus aurantia would do as well here as it does in Italy!
I've (I can already hear tea purists shuddering) been known to add a leaf or two of mint to my Earl Grey teas, I like the combination of flavors...Earl Grey +a little mint=delicious!
Kathy_ann, you are correct, the orange flavored mint is called orange mint, but it's often described as having a hint of bergamot, or tasting like it, and some cultivars are described as orange bergamot mints.