Peters Purple Bee Balm

What a summer-soothing color from Peters Purple bee balm.

If you’re looking for a plant that will attract hummingbirds, butterflies and bees, here is one for the task. They love it!

If you want a low-maintenance perennial for a part-shade part of your landscape, this might be it.

If deer are a problem, I see claims that they don’t particularly like it, so that’s a good thing.

Plus, this particular hybrid is reportedly quite resistant to powdery mildew, bane to many other monardas.

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The highly respected Missouri Botanical Garden cites this as a hybrid of Monarda fistulosa ‘Claire Grace’ and a Mexican species M. barlettii. It was found in the gardens of Texas native plant expert Peter Loos.

The plant in my photo will be new to our gardens. I just picked it up from my friend Kenneth Cranfill who had a couple of extras after his spring sales to garden centers. I have just the right spot for it at our house.

True to its name, this monarda planting of another variety has attracted a bee!

Peters Purple grows to 3-4 ft. tall and 2-3 ft. wide.

It does best in highly organic soils that are kept uniformly moist, never dry.

Give it morning sun and shade in the afternoon, especially in summer.

Prune the plants back when they finish blooming to keep them more compact and to keep the garden looking better.

Divide the clumps every 3-4 years, both to keep it from becoming too crowded and to share extra plants with your friends.

Posted by Neil Sperry
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