It's a funny thing about beebalm (Monarda). As soon as the plants stop blooming, the foliage often begins to look ratty.
Fortunately, the problem doesn't have to be long lived. If you cut the plants back to the ground, fresh new foliage will soon emerge.
There are several things you can do to keep your beebalm looking better longer. Water in dry weather. Mulch to conserve soil moisture. Snip off spent blooms to promote continued flowering. Discourage diseases by thinning out crowded shoots to increase air circulation. Divide clumps every two years in spring. Clean up foliage after frost.
In "The Well-Tended Perennial Garden" (Timber Press, 1998, $29.95), Tracy DiSabato-Aust explains another way to prolong beebalm's beauty: Cut the plants back by half in spring as soon as they're a foot tall. The plants will be a little shorter, bloom a little later, and look better longer.
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Mildew-resistant varieties also keep plants looking better. In evaluation trials at the Chicago Botanic Garden, the most resistant variety was one aptly-named Purple Mildew Resistant. Others with good resistance included rose-pink Marshall's Delight, wine-red Raspberry Wine, rose-red Gardenview Scarlet, and magenta-violet Violet Queen.
Wild bergamot (M. fistulosa), our native prairie beebalm with lavender-pink flowers, proved susceptible to mildew in the trials, although a white-flowering form had good resistance.
Most beebalms grow about 3 feet tall, but one of the best new varieties is even taller. Jacob Cline, a vigorous, disease-resistant variety with large red flowers, grows 5 feet tall. On the other end of the scale is Petite Wonder. This pink-flowered variety grows only a foot tall.
Also known as Oswego tea, beebalm is technically an herb used for teas. One sniff of the leaves and stems will tell you that it's a member of the mint family. The large, showy flowers are great for cutting, but what I like best is their ability to attract hummingbirds, butterflies and bees.
The best garden spot for beebalm is one with either full sun or partial shade, with rich, moist soil. Digging compost into the soil before you plant will help the plants thrive.
Beebalm looks great at the edge of a woodland garden, where it spreads by rhizomes and will naturalize if left to its own devices. Beebalm isn't too pushy, though. If it starts to outgrow its space, extra shoots are easy to pull out.
Tough as nails, beebalm is hardy throughout the Midwest.
A good partner for beebalm is coral bells (Heuchera), another favorite of hummingbirds. Like beebalm, it thrives in partial shade in rich, moist, well-drained soil.
