bee balm strange color leaves
Mandi (zone5)
10 months ago
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Mandi (zone5)
10 months agoMandi (zone5)
10 months agoRelated Discussions
Looking for Monarda / Bee Balm - any non-solid-red varities
Comments (0)I'm trying to get a patch of this going and am keen to get a mix of colors into it. My exchange page is here: http://members.gardenweb.com/members/exch/setanta?29329; for ease of use, I'm also pasting what I have below. I know it's not much, but maybe another newbie gardener is out there. :) Rust-leafed, white-flowered oxalis Green-leafed, pale lilac-flowered oxalis Parsley Asiatic jasmine Pomegranate cuttings (none currently rooted, but I can send cuttings for you to root) Nandina - dwarf reddish-leafed unknown variety, adult plant. Mexican heather (2 small shrubs) Catnip Ivy - possibly English, medium-dark green glossy, heart-shaped leaves. Good shade/ground cover....See MoreBee Balm leaves turning purple/reddish
Comments (7)Hi! I have a Monarda (Bee Balm) that I planted out in early May. It was really lush and beautiful at the nursery, growing outside quite happily. The plant is growing extremely well, very tall, thick, lush and healthy, developing flower buds on every single stem, approaching 3' tall now. The bottom leaves, however, are turning a reddish-purple tinge. Does anybody know why? The weather has been really tumultuous, the spring was very wet and cool, punctuated by a few very hot spells so far. It gets regular watering every couple days if there isn't any rain, and even a little fertilizer to help it settle into its place. Soil is clay/loam, morning-early pm sun, little to no amendments to the soil. Could it be too moist? We have had loads of rain and high humidity lately....See MoreIt's outta here! (Bee Balm)
Comments (12)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....See MoreMildew Resisten Bee Balm (Monarda)
Comments (17)I can only provide personal experience, but that is tempered with the fact that the PNW is likely the powdery mildew capital of the universe. LOL! If a plant is susceptible to PM in the slightest, there is a very good bet it will get it - our climate, specially in late summer, is just very predisposed to this problem. And so-called "resistance" is just that - resistance does not translate to immunity. Having said all that, 'Jacob Cline' is an excellent performer here. It seldom develops any problems, produces a tall, robust clump, is a dramatic, intense shade of red, flowers prodigiously even in part shade and has a long bloom season. And I'd hesitate to call any monarda "invasive". In the right conditions, they can be aggressive spreaders but they are easily removed where not wanted and are not considered invasive in the context of seeding freely or otherwise invading natural ecosystems to the detriment of native plantings. And if you are not familiar with it, The Sunset Western Garden Book has an excellent listing of deer resistant (there's that word again!) plants that are particularly well suited to west coast gardeners....See MoreMandi (zone5)
10 months agocecily 7A
10 months agoperen.all Zone 5a Ontario Canada
10 months ago
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