Pardon My Purple Bee Balm

Light Needs

Partial Sun to Full Sun

(At Least 5 Hours of Direct Sunlight)

Mature Height

6 - 10 Inches

Mature Spread

10 - 12 Inches

Growing Zones

4 to 8

It's a fragrant plant to attract bees, butterflies, hummingbirds and friends who want to stop and smell the … Pardon My Purple Bee Balm (Monarda didyma). But that's only one sense this bee balm will delight. The bright fuchsia-colored blooms reach nearly three inches across on a compact, foot-tall plant. The globe-like flowers of the Monarda didyma or Bergamot are a fuchsia-purple color and have tubular petals near the inside, and the outer petals are broad and flat.This is a mounded, upright, clump-forming plant. Pardon My Purple Bee Balm seldom grows any taller or wider than 12 inches.

One of the best ways to grow Pardon My Purple bee balm is as a front border of a garden bed, where it frames taller plants behind it with its bright blooms and invites pollinators to your garden. Bee Balm is a staple of butterfly gardens, and rightfully so, but Pardon My Purple Bee Balm will be right at home in any space in need of lovely flowers and an easy-care plant. The flowers grow on tall and sturdy branched stems that are also adorned with green, semi-glossy foliage that has a pronounced midrib and narrows to a point. Pollinators will visit the fragrant flowers, but deer and rabbits generally keep away.  

Bee balm is native to eastern North America, growing mostly in moist conditions such as stream banks or thickets, so the plants fare best with an even supply of moisture in zones 4 through 8. The perennial plant has smooth green leaves and dark fuchsia-to-purple blooms in mid-summer through late summer.  It's perfect as a filler in containers, mixed perennial bed, as a border plant or in mass plantings packed with color. Include in a container to display the summer-blooming flowers on a porch or patio.  

Pardon My Purple Bee Balm Care

Plant Pardon My Purple in full sun to partial shade. Soil should be fertile and moist but well-drained. Bee Balm prefers consistently damp soil, so water before the top layer of soil dries out. Mulching and planting in soil that retains some moisture helps give your bee balm even water. Your bee balm needs little fertilizer to bloom, but you can add an occasional all-purpose fertilizer in late spring or early summer. Fertilize the plant during the spring using balanced plant food. 

Just remove flowers as they fade to encourage more blooming and prune the plants to nearly ground level after they have finished blooming. You might need to divide your bee balm every three of four years.

Pardon My Purple Bee Balm Spacing

This plant has an upright, clump-forming habit that will reach 10 to 12 inches tall and 7 to 10 inches wide. Leave enough space around plants so air can circulate, reducing the chance of powdery mildew. Space plants 8 to 11 inches apart for a full look in the garden. Plant bee balm near the front of a container with plants taller than one foot. When planting several bee balms for a hedge or mass planting, space the plants about 12 to 18 inches apart.