One gardener's Beebalm is another's Oswego Tea, according to his personal lights and landscape, even as both were growing Monarda. Mugwort S uch ancient names truly are a form of poetic expression. In ancient days Linun was Flax and don't confuse me, and the Old English wouldn't have known Alchemilla from Bedpost. The plant world is filled with homely resemblances like this. The spread of its long, narrow, arching leaves look like nothing more than spiders' legs, albeit legs in a considerable tangle.
Death takes no holidays here.
To be sure, not all bugs are put off by the towering spikes of Cimicigua racemosa's blooms. Busy Bees, at least, constantly are collecting nectar from them. Nor is the sometimes heedless man's best friend, not as you'd notice, repelled from gardens by the presence of Dogbane. Donornicum is a much desired presence at the beginning of the growing season, soon on in the wake of Dogtooth Violets. And it does, if only for a year.