I seem to have out of control Bee Balm Raspberry Wine. It is being a thug to the neighboring Lavender Silver Anouk. Does anyone else have trouble controlling bee balm? What do you think I should do with this? Don't want to make a hasty decision on this. Thanks ever so much.
By the way, the lavender alone is about 4 feet wide, so you can see how aggressive this bee balm is being.
This message was edited Apr 21, 2013 3:55 PM
The basic solution to unwanted plants is nearly always to dig them out... start around the edges of the lavender and remove the stems and roots of the beebalm (to at least isolate the lavender from more spreading in from the original plant). Then dig and pull out the stems and roots from inside the lavender as well as you can.... the only secret is to keep at it.
You may want to get rid of the beebalm entirely. They spread from the roots and are often a lot more vigorous than wanted.
I have Bee Balm and although it spreads quite quickly, I don't have a problem pulling it up when needed. It comes out rather easily. I think digging around the lavender and pulling it out from the lavender will work. I just had to do the same thing in one of my gardens except it was to Shasta Daisy Becky. Man that one was tough to get the shovel through! I need to remember to get to it before it starts winding through the other plants. I had to dig the plants out and replant after untangling the roots. Worse case that's what you'd have to do to your lavender and Bee Balm.
Thanks for the responses. I was able to just pull it right out, it is very easy to remove. Didn't have to dig up my lavender at all. I just pulled what was encroaching and left the patch beside the lavender. I'll keep it pulled to a manageable size. Thanks, again!
I bought three seedlings and they invaded everything-----but I suppose I now can move plants all over and have more than I need free!----------------------------------------------------------Weedy
I love it though, it is such a wildlife magnet.I have so many different ones that it gives me long season of blooms. :) I think it triples in size every year!
My bee balm is hemmed in by a stand of Siberian Iris. I just laughed when I saw how far into the bed they had invaded over the winter-- can't wait to see who wins that battle! ROFL...
Yep, that's what I'm going to have to do this Fall too. In fact, I may do it before some of them bloom. I should have plenty of larkspurs to replace it to add beauty.
Heidi in Nebraska sent me some dwarf larkspur seeds in exchange for my tall ones. I hope mine are doing well for her. Looking forward to seeing what colors the dwarf ones will be. Can't wait to see all my daylilies blooming that I received from the Fall plant swap.
I just had to dig a lot of Monarda bradburianna out of one of my gardens that has Bearded Iris and a mix of perennials, it was weaving itself all through them.. It looked very pretty but I was worried they'd eventually take the whole area over. I think any Monarda is best kept in a wild type garden where the other plants are just as vigorous as it. Otherwise you'll have to plan on ripping a lot out every year.
Teehee-- mine is with asters and Siberian Iris. So far, it's a draw...
LOL, Pfg, love it! Very smart gardening!
Sounds like the right kind of companions! :)
Has anyone had a "boxing match" flower bed?? With the rings and everything? What a hoot!
LOL, you know no one would get the joke but an experienced gardener! Imagine all the looks one would get when they saw a boxing match flower bed from the general populous! Uh...what?
ROFL...
^_^
That would be fun to see on a time lapse camera : )
And Honey Suckle takes a swat at Bugle Weed in the 5th round....
My bee balm is taking over this year too and I hope I can get it dug out soon. It needs a flowerbed all to itself when one starts to plant it. I have read the way to curb its growth and rapidly spreading is to plant it in a container/pot with the bottom of the pot cut out. I understand that bee balm grows/spreads from its runners. I'll be interested in reading how people have curbed theirs. They sure are pretty when they bloom though.
My patch is in a spot that gets a little too hot for it. It spreads like mad over the winter, this year growing back toward the Sibs. To one side it's hemmed in by shrubs, ferns and heavy shade, on the other, asters and white Achillea, another thug. Forward is more hot and sunny. When it blooms, it's spectacular, then as the summer heats up it burns out some. At least that's what's happened so far.
This year my irrigation system might help it a little too much... I plan to keep that section dry-ish, using soaker tubing but spread out more than in the other areas. Its competitors are all less thirsty than the bee balm, so I'm hoping that will help keep it in check. Finding the right balance will be tricky, I don't want to lose all of it!
What if we shovel prunned the Bee Balm or cut it to ground in addition to shovel prunning it until Fall comes and I can dig it out altogether; will that work? Seems like somebody mentioned this on this website or GW one time. I really haven't been active this year as I didn't have an opportunity to do any wintersowing this year. DH had back surgery in mid Jan. and seems like we've been on a roller coaster every since. If it isn't one Dr. appt. it's another, or physical therapy sessions, volunteer work at church and since I'm not the sole chauffeur, that also consumes my time. I will just go and buy what annuals I want or need to fill in the spaces. Have lots of seeds I didn't get planted but hopefully they will keep till the Fall or Spring of 2014.
It will keep spreading sideways... I grew some from seed and it is incredible how a single stemmed seedling returns the following year as 1' x 1' or larger clump the very next year. You just have to dig it out. I've heard digging it up and dividing yearly keeps it more floriferous.
The first year I planted it the deer ate it (the bee balm). So I just had stubs! Now I have loads that have grown over the winter. I do not have time to dig them up right now, but maybe later.
I have been wanting to dig out my M. fistulosa, it is mixed in with different colored M. didymas which aren't as vigorous but I can't tell them apart since they aren 't flowering.
Only trouble is I have two varieties/color and I'll have to see which color shoots up where. Maybe I'll just cut it back to the ground and hope that will contain it for a while. I loved the raspberry wine that a gardening acquaintance from DG sent me from her stash. It is beautiful when it blooms and then I forget all about how much it spreads. Same way with some forget-me-nots I planted 2 years ago. I thought I had pulled them all up last Fall when they finished blooming. Guess the wind found the seeds and they are all over the garage flowerbed. Very dainty and airy looking and light blue in color. I think they are called Asian FMN..I'll have to look up the information on them and think about where I bought them. I ripped some out this week and they will go in yard waste bag but bet they come back next year.
Do you have a picture of your FMN? They sound lovely.
Meredith, no I don't have a picture and don't know how to post a picture if I had one. The Chinese FMN seeds was purchased from American Meadows seed co. They are very dainty and the flowers are very small, not as large as the seed catalog or website makes them out to be. They kind of remind me of baby's breath but in light blue color.
Thanks! I have some here but the flowers are so small I thought they were a weed.
Yep, that's kind of what they remind me of too. I thought I had pulled them all up last year when they finished blooming, evidently I missed some and the wind caught some of the seedheads and scattered them. Each day I got out and yank some up. Guess I should dig them up instead of yank them by hand. With so much rainfall lately, things are growing quickly, and I need to catch up on other things or provide transportation to DH to pt or Doctor visits.
I think I need to start making note of this in my DG blog/diary. I've been bad about not making notes this year. Bought a few pots of annuals to plant into one of my large patio containers yesterday at HD and their flowers are the worst I've ever seen them. I think it has to do with all the rain and windy weather we have been having recently. I only bought 2 pots of yellow marigolds and 2 pots of purple petunias and 1 pot of sweet william(perennial) all 6 in. pots. Wants to get some vinca and it was so sick looking, I wouldn't buy it, so I'll make a pit stop to another garden center. They also seemed to have a sewer backup problem, it smelled like it and I know one place I think I must have walked in it not realizing it. You would have thought they would have closed the garden center or at least that area but guess they didn't want to lose the business.
That isn't good!
