Upscale™ Lavender Taffeta Bee Balm

With its dark green foliage and vibrant purple blooms, the Upscale™ Lavender Taffeta Bee Balm is ideal for adding a burst of color to your garden. This stunning plant blooms from mid to late summer and being perennial will come back year after year. Botanically known as a Monarda hybrid, this bee balm can grow to just over 2 feet tall and even looks great when not in flower. The Upscale™ Lavender Taffeta Bee Balm is perfect for adding to borders and is a magnet for wildlife.

The Upscale™ Lavender Taffeta Bee Balm forms a clump of tall square stems and lance-shaped dark green leaves, which smell of mint when crushed between fingers. As an herbaceous perennial, this bee balm dies back over winter but is thankfully deer resistant. As a native of North America, bee balms are perfectly suited to most areas, and this cultivar looks equally impressive when grown en masse, individually or in a container. 

Upscale™ Lavender Taffeta Bee Balm Care

If grown in the right place, this Monarda tends to thrive with little care. It grows well in full sun to partial shade and is generally happiest in a south or west-facing spot. When it comes to the soil conditions, the Upscale™ Lavender Taffeta Bee Balm is best grown in a neutral to alkaline soil that is moist, but well drained. However, it can also tolerate some clay soils. Even though tolerant of dry conditions, bee balms prefer consistently moist, but not overly saturated soil, which can cause root disease. In general, mature plants need a deep and thorough watering every 7 to 10 days. Fertilizing this plant is not strictly necessary, although a balanced feed applied in spring will help give any container-grown plants a boost.  

Although not essential, young bee balm plants can be pinched out to promote more bushy growth. As the flowers fade, they can be deadheaded to encourage more blooms over the rest of the summer. When the temperatures drop with the onset of winter, you can simply cut the stems nearly to ground level, and they will reappear the following spring.

Upscale™ Lavender Taffeta Bee Balm Spacing

When mature, the Upscale™ Lavender Taffeta Bee Balm can reach a maximum height and spread of 26 by 30 inches. When growing this bee balm in a group for a mass of color, a distance of 30 inches between plants is recommended.

Upscale™ Lavender Taffeta Bee Balm Information