Monarda for miles

There's one plant that I question having in my garden every year, and that's Monarda or bee balm. I once grew three different types, but am now down to just one: 'Marshall's Delight'.

Its bee-attracting blooms are what save it ever year, because it has some problems. The first is that it spreads quite vigorously, but that doesn't bother me -- I deal with vigorous plants all the time. The second problem is that it is guaranteed to have powdery mildew every year.

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Here's just a taste of the mildew:

I sometimes try spraying it with the milk solution and that seems to help, but you have to spray fairly regularly and I don't think there's anything I do in the garden fairly regularly, as I often follow whims when I'm out there and don't have loads of time on most days.

Still, I put up with the mildew because of this:

I just love it! A patch of bee balm in bloom is a wonderful thing!

Yesterday, at the end of an unexpectedly difficult bike ride, I saw the mother of all Monarda patches:

Whereas my planting is about six feet in diameter, this sea of blooms is measured in acres!

I only had my phone on me so the photos aren't terrific, but imagine blooms as far as you can see...

Field of Monarda -- click for larger view

...on both sides of the road:

Bad color of poor phone camera, but you get the idea of how huge it is! (click for larger)

Just amazing! The fact that this is found in a County Park and not a Conservation Area or State Park makes it even more wonderful to me.

It was a really nice surprise!

This is probably Monarda bradburiana, a Missouri native. I should add some of this to my garden, as it's certainly pretty enough and reportedly has good mildew resistance -- although I did still see signs of it on these plants.

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