No, you're not being silly at all. I am very choosy when it comes to coloring (both flower and foliage). If you're not happy with it - OUT with it!

Do you still have the receipt? If it is a reputable nursery and you have the receipt (even better - receipt + tags), they just may exhange it for your or give you a store credit.

The only tall red I can think of off the top of my head is Hisbiscus moschetos (?sp). I don't have a red color scheme so I'm drawing a blank at the moment.

Don't you HATE it when something is mismarked? I ordered 18 columbine last year. Stuck them in the ground. When they bloomed all but 6 were the native red/yellow that I ordered. That 6 was a double dark purple. My husband was opposed to ripping them out. But I could not wait. They just did not work with the colors or anything else about the bed!!

I have crocosima lucifer, and its just gorgeous, and the same height as my bee balm. In fact they are planted together. The crocosima kind of hangs over when blooming. Pretty bright red flowers. You might want to check it out.

Ugh. I feel your pain. In my case, it was mis-labeled daylilies that I thought were going to be a deep red-black. When the first blooms opened last week, they were salmon -- definitely NOT in the same color family!

Red monarda should still be available; I second the suggestion to see if you could exchange your lavender plants at the nursery. Good luck!

Red day lily....won't last as long as monarda..but if you buys everal cultivars you probably can spread out some bloom for most of the summer.
Linda C

Well, I did not still have the receipt, since they were bought last summer, and I am not sure I would trust them to have the replacements marked correctly anyway. I went to the garden center here in town instead of going back to that other nursery. She had a few very scraggly lychnis chalcedonica (Maltese Cross), which would eventually be the right height, but they were just about done blooming for the year and were only 12 - 15" tall. She didn't have anything else red, not even some annuals. I ended up buying a couple of 'Orange Perfection' tall phlox to fill in the spaces for now. At least I will have something blooming, even though they are much smaller than what was there before.

I almost feel guilty admitting this, but it felt really good to dig those plants up today. I have heard so much about them attracting bees, butterflies, and hummers, but the only thing mine were attracting were grasshoppers. I squashed at least 7 or 8 while digging them up. Every day I was finding a half dozen or more on them. There are grasshoppers on the coreopsis and yarrow too, but they don't seem to be eating those plants, just using them for shelter. Maybe now that the bee balm is gone the grasshoppers will move on to someone else's yard.

I'd like to pull mine up too! The Japanese beetles ate on the red before it really bloomed. And one spot that I had a tag that said red bloomed lavender this year. Can't say that I remember it being lavender before. That's why you gotta take those pictures.

I love it!!! Great plant....blooms...looks great....I cut it way back and before frost it blooms again....waht's not to like?
Linda C

Here is a link that might be useful: monarda

I would try again with bee balm - Jacob Kline. I have the same hot colored bed and it works great for the red. I have Hibsicus Lord Baltimore too but that doesn't bloom til later on.

I got some Jacob Kline a few years ago but it is right next to a huge pine tree and didn't really take off like I wanted. I guess too much competition. So this year I got some more to plant a little further away (going to rip out Ladybells that are not worthy of the space).

I used to have M. 'Cambridge Scarlet', but that got too much mildew.

Some years I have put canna in that bed in a pot for red color too. I have Rose 'Ruby meideland' too in the front for dark red. I got some red annual dianthus this year too.

Wendy, I have a Rose of Sharon 'Freedom' in that bed, but like your Hibiscus, it won't bloom until late summer. There is also a red peony in that bed for early spring red color, so I need something that blooms in between those two things.

No, I don't think I will try bee balm again. Not in this flower bed, at this house anyway. It got too large, too fast, had powdery mildew, and of course, they attracted way too many grasshoppers to the garden. It may do well in other places, but if something isn't working for me here, I will either try and find another spot where it will be happier, or it just has to go.

The things that I was thinking of using for next year are Geum 'Mrs. Bradshaw', Crocosmia 'Lucifer', or Knautia 'Red Knight', but I haven't decided which yet.

ooooohh, ... i just LOVE my red bee balm! ... this picture shows it with my red hollyhocks ... it is my favorite spot in the garden ... well, o.k., maybe just for today ... tomorrow it will be another spot ... phyl

{{gwi:252393}}

Like you, my "tall red acent" in my hot-color bed out front was the Jacob Kline monarda. Well, it grew "tall" but was growing everywhere but UP... It went sideways, laid on the ground and grew outwards, flopped over other plants, etc. and just looked like a leggy, goofy mess. It is baking in full sun too. I am not impressed... I cut most of the stems back in hopes of a second rebloom, hopefully straighter up in the air this time. The hot bed has been a challenge, to say the least. The dwarf lilies looked great and multiplied well, so I got more of them. The coneflowers are blooming well but also growing more sideways than up, so they are propped up with green fencing pieces. The BE susans are just starting to open, and they will be the cohesive element in the garden. I think I will wait till fall to work on this bed anymore, it needs too much attention to deal with in 100+ deg heat.