How to choose and grow the best perennials – part iii

- By Patricia Hanbidge

June 10, 2025

key points from this story:

• Focus on bee balm (monarda) varieties
• Bee balm attracts butterflies and bees
• Different cultivars offer varied colors, sizes
• Some varieties are mildew resistant
• Personal gardening stories included
• Easy to grow and maintain perennials

This is the third article in the series on how to choose the best perennials plant in your garden. Perennials are a great choice for any garden and it is not that difficult to plant them appropriately so that your garden has colour throughout the seasons. It is important to ensure whatever you are adding to your garden is not going to be a problem in the future so all perennials should be chosen carefully and will behave in your garden. As an added bonus, these perennials will reduce the work that you have to do and are attractive to butterflies and bees.

Plants are special to gardeners and often what we grow has meaning that goes beyond the plants. One summer on a hot July day, I was visiting a friend who is fortunate enough to live on the banks of the South Saskatchewan River. As it was a very hot day, I wandered through the poplar bluff down to the water. As I walked, the understory was filled with native monarda or bee balm and the scent of bergamot was just amazing. Ever since that day I always have some bee balm in my garden as the scent is like being surrounded by a giant cup of Earl Grey tea!

The following Bee Balm unless otherwise stated will all grow about the same size which is 24 inches (60 cm) in height and spread about the same dimension as their height. They bloom from mid-summer all the way to a killing frost, gracing our gardens with scent and colour attracting butterflies and bees and other gardeners!

Monarda didyma ‘Coral Reef’ has lovely coral to salmon-pink flowers and the foliage is very disease resistant. Monarda didyma ‘Grand Marshall’ also has good resistance to powdery mildew which is a problem with many perennials. It boasts shaggy fuchsia-purple flowers and is delightfully fragrant. Monarda didyma ‘Grand Mum’ has a delicate pink-mauve flower and is a slightly smaller perennial at about 18 inches (45 cm) in height and spread. Monarda didyma ‘Grand Parade’ is an exceptionally hardy, mildew-resistant cultivar that produces an abundance of lavender-purple flowers on mid-size plants that grow to between 12 to 18 inches (30 to 45 cm). Monarda didyma ‘Jefsnow’ is simply stunning! This monarda has 2-lipped scarlet red flowers that are 3 to 4 inches (7.5 to 10 cm) across. My personal favourite monarda! Monarda didyma ‘Marshall’s Delight’ won an award of garden merit by the Royal Horticultural Society. Clear pink, beautiful flowers – an all-time favourite! Monarda didyma ‘Petite Delight’ is a tiny bee balm with grey-green foliage and only 10 to 12 inches in height (25 to 30 cm) and spread. The lavender-pink flowers are really quite beautiful – especially against the foliage.

If you have not yet grown monarda in your garden – perhaps this is the year you can begin. They are easy keepers and will give you so much in return!