21.07.2023 - 22:37 / awaytogarden.com

bee balm: make room for monarda, with mt. cuba’s george coombs

ITS COMMON NAME–bee balm–tips us off that Monarda is a pollinator favorite, and though the name doesn’t also say so, hummingbirds consider it irresistible, too. But as important as various native plants in the genus are, many of us gardeners may hesitate to plant Monarda because of its reputation for getting powdery mildew on its foliage in summer, or its inclination to run sideways.George Coombs, who manages the trial gardens at Mt. Cuba Center native plant garden and research facility in Delaware, tested 40 different selections of Monarda over a three-year period, including plants from seven Eastern U.S. native species, and he shared results of which fare best on both scores in the hopes that more of us will make room and make more pollinators happy in the process. (Like ‘Purple Rooster,’ above, a top pick.)

Read along as you listen to the June 26, 2107 edition of my public-radio show and podcast using the player below. You can subscribe to all future editions on iTunes or Stitcher (and browse my archive of podcasts here).

evaluating monarda with george coombs of mt. cuba

Q. We’ve talked before on the show about your past trials of other native plants like Baptisia and Heuchera—and native plants are the mission of Mt. Cuba, which is both a garden for visiting and a research center, right?

A. Mt. Cuba Center is actually a former du Pont family estate, the Copeland family estate, and they left their estate to become a public garden. What kind of sets us apart from others in the area is that we focus on native plants. We broadly define our nativity region as the Eastern United States.

We do a lot of work promoting plants in a display capacity in the gardens itself, and then we also do research like what I do, trying to help

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