Evenly distribute the pinching to ensure the blooms appear uniformly throughout your bee balm.Ģ. A week later, pinch another one-third, then pinch the last one-third of stems the third week. To do this, pinch back one-third of the stems in early spring. you can also stagger your pinching to encourage a longer display of flowers. Just use your fingertips, scissors or a pair of hand pruners to remove the first set of leaves at the top of the stem and just above the second set of leaves. When plants emerge in spring and have grown to about 12 inches in height you can pinch back the tips of the stems to encourage more branching below, which will ultimately give you and the birds and pollinating insects more flowers. Here's some bee balm pruning tips for you.ġ. Along with fuller growth, your bee balm will produce more flowers when properly pruned. Pruing encourages a fuller, lusher plant, which is aesthetically pleasing even after it is finished blooming. Bee balms require no pruning however pruning has several benefits, especially regarding the taller growing varieties.
BEE BALM PLANT HAS NEVER BLOOMED FULL
While the shorter dwarf varieties stay more compact on their own, some of the taller varieties tend to not grow as full if left to grow naturally. There are many varieties of bee balm available today that come in a range of flower colors and various sizes. Hopefully, this info will help you feel confident in collecting seeds, cutting your bee balm back to the ground, and then dividing and replanting it.Bee balm, scientifully known as Monarda, produces unique flowers that are a great nectar source for hummingbirds, butterflies and other beneficial pollinating insects. If there is, pull back the stones and cut out a section where the plant is so water gets to the soil. Is there weed block fabric under the stones? I've always found that it smothers my flowers. "Bee balm is usually pinched back to make the plant bushy, deadheaded to encourage new flowers and cut back severely (almost to the ground) in late summer after flowering." Replant the divisions 18 to 24 inches apart in full sun and moist soil. Each piece needs a clump of roots and two or three shoots. Cut the plant into divisions with a sterile knife. Dig up and divide the plants in early spring, as soon as the new leaves begin to appear. "Divide the bee balm when the center of the plant begins dying out, every two to three years. In either case, dig up the entire clump and separate it into equal chunks." "You can divide and transplant your bee balm either after it finishes flowering, or wait until next spring when the emerging shoots are 4 to 6 inches tall. Water can be cut back while it's in its "resting" phase. You'll need to keep a sprinkler/hose on it for at least 1/2 hour to get down to the roots while actively growing. Make sure when you water that the soil where the roots are gets wet - if it's really dried out a lot of the surface watering spreads out rather than going deeply into the soil. Pull the stones at least 4" from the plant(s) and add some compost to the area. Once a stem has finished flowering, trim it back down to the ground or pinch it off."īee balm "should" easily spread either by reseeding itself (let those blooms go to seed! Allow to dry and put directly into the soil, keep moist until sprouting) or via underground rhizomes.įrom the location, I'd guess that it hasn't gotten enough water (limits rhizome spreading). "As your flowers start to fade, you should deadhead bee balm just above the next flower bud to encourage further flowering. Water and soil instructions as well as plant diseases
It's time to cut the plant back almost to the ground (1-2" tall). However, it also looks as though the stems are becoming "woody" which means they are also drying out. The blooms are done - you could leave them on the plant to dry out for the seeds but the plant will keep sending energy there.
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