There was no contest for the most impressive perennial in my flowerbeds this summer. ‘Purple Rooster’ bee balm (Monarda didyma) ran away with all the honors and accolades.
The flowers started appearing in June and were still hanging on in late August much to the delight of bumblebees, honeybees and the migrating hummingbirds.
‘Purple Rooster’ was selected here in southern Wisconsin by the owners of one of my favorite places to buy perennials—The Flower Factory. This carefree cultivar grows about 36 inches tall and spreads about the same width once fully established.
The flowers are a dark purplish-pink and appear on dark-green foliage. I’m still surprised that after several summers in my flowerbed, the plant has not at all died out in the middle like so many bee balms do. The clump just keeps getting bigger and more impressive.
‘Purple Rooster’ performs well in sun or part-shade. My plant only gets about 3 hours of sun each day (the rest of the time it gets high shade) and I’ve never had to stake it or fuss with it in any way. Some of my other bee balm cultivars (as well as some of my phlox plants) struggled with powdery mildew this year, but ‘Purple Rooster’ still doesn’t have a single spot.
I’ve been so delighted with ‘Purple Rooster’ that when the bunnies took out most of my coneflowers earlier this year, I replaced many of them with with this reliable, colorful and very-long-blooming perennial.