Just my opinion based on my vast experience of making every mistake imaginable.....:) First I don't think putting it in a pot in the ground is necessary, they are shallow rooted and easily removed...... 2 when planting give it plenty of room.....not familiar with your cultivar but I grow 'Jacob Cline' and its mildew resistant but from what I've seen ain't none of them mildew proof..... 3. When it quits flowering and looks kinda ragged you can cut it down to the crown and it will put out new growth, may or may not rebloom....but if it does rebloom the blooms are low and few.. 4.I grow a yellow crocosmia in front of bee balm to hide its hideous legs after the blooms start to wind down or it gets mildew.....the foliage of 'George Davidson' crocosmia is great in itself and for hiding the bee balm legs......Good luck I love bee balm as you can see....i got 4 stands of it scattered around...... Paul from Alabama Here is a link that might be useful: Jacob Cline bee balm

The papilio that I received a few weeks ago was half the size of Apple Blosom bulub.It has produced oly three leaves now about 4 inches but yet no scape is showing. where as the APPLE BLOSM is ready to burst open. I was toled that PAPILIO bulb is relatively smaller. I hope this time the Papilio is a real Papilio and I hope it blooms..

I'm very happy for you! It sounds like you'll be busy potting up bulbs and planting roses this weekend! We, also, received a couple of rose orders... though ours will be mostly potted and sold, with only a few planted in our own gardens. Ours are all hardy rose types, including Iowa Bucks and Canadian or Sub Zero varieties. All are "own root" roses, just breaking dormancy. We also received several tree peonies, which I've never grown before. The photos are lovely, and they are supposedly hardy in our zone... again, most are for sale, but we will be planting one or two in our own gardens for show. I'm glad your news was good, and glad you're having a good time gardening!

Thinking long term development, until I read your list of candidates I was going to suggest 'Shishigashira'. You still might want to check that one out. 'Oridono nishiki' ("the rich-colored fabric of the master") and 'Versicolor' are not the same. 'Oridono nishiki' "is more reliable and has far less non-variegated foliage than some other cultivars such as 'Versicolor'"(Vertrees/Gregory, JAPANESE MAPLES).