{"id":12527,"date":"2020-07-16T12:00:58","date_gmt":"2020-07-16T16:00:58","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/?p=12527"},"modified":"2020-07-13T14:20:40","modified_gmt":"2020-07-13T18:20:40","slug":"%ef%bb%bfbeebalm-monarda-varieties-attract-hummingbirds-butterflies-and-moths","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/2020\/07\/16\/%ef%bb%bfbeebalm-monarda-varieties-attract-hummingbirds-butterflies-and-moths\/","title":{"rendered":"\ufeffBeebalm (Monarda) Varieties Attract Hummingbirds, Butterflies And Moths"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Monarda<\/em> ‘Jacob Cline’<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

In 2016 Mt. Cuba Center in Greenville DE enlisted a team of trained volunteers to monitor the visitation of hummingbirds, moths, and butterflies in the 40 cultivar beebalm (Monarda<\/em>) trial. Their goal was to systematically observe and note the cultivars that were most frequently visited by these pollinators. Below is a listing of the five most-visited selections by hummingbirds and moths\/butterflies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

MT Cuba plant scientists report: \u201cOne of the first things we learned from this data is that hummingbirds visit large-flowered, red cultivars almost to the exclusion of everything else. This is most likely due to the fact that hummingbirds require a larger flower size in order to access the nectar. Despite the floral similarities among the hummingbird-visited selections, \u2018Jacob Cline\u2019 was much more favored than any other cultivar. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

They report: “It is hard to pinpoint an exact cause, but one possible explanation may be that \u2018Jacob Cline\u2019 is the tallest of these cultivars and therefore may be easier for the hummingbirds to visit. Just as hummingbirds favored a certain type of flower, so too did moths and butterflies. They were most frequently observed visiting selections that produced the largest abundance of 2-3 inch wide flowers.” <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Beebalm (Monarda) Varieties Attract Hummingbirds, Butterflies And Moths\u00a0<\/strong>The data demonstrate that there are horticulturally desirable characteristics of cultivars (i.e. improved flower production and longer bloom times) that can have a positive impact on ecological function. For example, M. fistulosa<\/em> \u2018Claire Grace\u2019 is a top performer horticulturally as well as a favorite among moths and butterflies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Attracting Hummingbirds<\/strong> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

1. M. didyma<\/em> \u2018Jacob Cline\u2019 <\/p>\n\n\n\n

2. M. \u2018Gardenview Scarlet\u2019 <\/p>\n\n\n\n

3. M. \u2018Cambridge Scarlet\u2019 <\/p>\n\n\n\n

4. M. didyma<\/em> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

5. M. \u2018Raspberry Wine\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Moth\/Butterfly<\/strong> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

1. M. fistulosa<\/em> \u2018Claire Grace\u2019 <\/p>\n\n\n\n

2. M. \u2018On Parade\u2019 <\/p>\n\n\n\n

3. M. \u2018Violet Queen\u2019 <\/p>\n\n\n\n

4. M. \u2018Peter\u2019s Purple\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n

 5. M. \u2018Colrain Red\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Caveat:<\/u> you should not conclude from a one year study that 2 or 3 varieties were the best. Hummingbird and insect activity may vary with the choice of varieties and the summer time period. Beebalms are also able to support an incredible number of bee and wasp species.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In 2016 Mt. Cuba Center in Greenville DE enlisted a team of trained volunteers to monitor the visitation of hummingbirds, moths, and butterflies in the 40 cultivar beebalm (Monarda) trial. Their goal was to systematically observe and note the cultivars that were most frequently visited by these pollinators. Below is a listing of the five […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[444,1218,747,1319,605,1037,521,1498,778,674,882,1138,774,745,853,890,551,1476,627,1136,729,1235,630,705,706],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12527"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12527"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12527\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12630,"href":"https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12527\/revisions\/12630"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12527"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12527"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12527"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}