Smart tips for growing healthy bee balm

If you have a damp spot in the yard, fill it with bee balm. Then, in early summer, feast your eyes on the amazing display of flowers produced by the showiest member of the mint family. Here are some smart tips for growing healthy bee balm.

• Bee balm features shaggy blooms composed of many narrow, tubular flowers arrayed in five-centimetre-wide to eight-centimetre-wide (two-inch-wide to three-inch-wide) topknots held on long stems.
• Colours include pink, lilac, and riveting reds that hummingbirds adore. The green leaves, sometimes tinged with red, give off a minty fragrance when crushed.
• Bee balm thrives in moist soil, so it's a natural companion for astilbes.
• In hot-summer areas, it needs partial shade and can be paired with impatiens, coleus, or wishbone flower.
• In colder climates bee balm will grow in partial shade or sun provided the plants are well-mulched in winter.
• In dry regions, they'll appreciate regular watering; consider planting them near an outdoor water faucet where they can benefit from spillage.
• Its slightly gangly posture and ragged-looking blossoms make bee balm ideal for naturalistic settings.
• Keep the plants far from high-traffic paths, however, because they attract bees in droves.

Powdery mildew, a disfiguring fungal leaf disease, has long been a weakness of bee balm, but many cultivars offer good resistance to the white leaf spots that slowly destroy bee balm leaves and weaken the plants.

• At the first sign of trouble trim off and dispose of affected leaves. If the plant is badly infested, trim it to within five centimetres (two inches) of the ground and it will produce healthy new foliage.
• To ward off mildew problems, buy resistant varieties. Good choices include 'Marshall's Delight', a vigorous producer of five-centimetre-wide (two-inch-wide) purplish-pink blossoms on stiff one metre (three foot) stems, and 'Raspberry Wine', with purplish-red flowers on 1.2 metre (four foot) stems.
• Among red bee balms, 'Jacob Kline' and 'Gardenview Scarlet' defend themselves well from mildew. These cultivars must be purchased and propagated by division or cuttings rather than being grown from seed.

• Set out purchased plants in spring, in moisture-retentive soil, preferably in a spot convenient to water. Enrich the soil with compost or other organic matter but fertilize lightly, if at all.
• Apply an eight centimetre (three inch) layer of organic mulch to conserve soil moisture.
• In the second year, pinch out a few stems in the middle of the clump to improve air circulation, which in turn discourages mildew.
• Bee balm spreads by sending out shallow horizontal roots called stolons, which develop underground buds that grow into new plants. Bee balm can sometimes spread quickly, but you can usually restrain it and keep colonies healthy by thinning out old crowns so that the younger ones can flourish.
• Dig and divide established clumps every two to three years in early spring, refreshing the soil with compost or peat moss in the process.

Bee balm is a colourful addition to any outdoor space. Remember these tips and grow bee balm the right way.