Wild Bergamot

This posting is for Liz who keeps asking me to post more. :) Here you go!

And here is what the SESE website says about this plant: 

A favorite of hummingbirds and bees. Flowers of varying shades of lavender may be added to salads. Use strongly fragrant dried leaves for tea and potpourris. Medicinal: Used by several Native American tribes as a carminative.

And in case you didn't know what a carminative was, (because I didn't), dictionary.com says it is:

a drug causing expulsion of gas from the stomach or bowel.

And in case you were wondering what that crazy looking bug is flying up to one of the flowers, it is a hummingbird moth. I was so surprised the first time I saw one of these. They move just like hummingbirds, quickly and then hovering, but are clearly not birds at all.