Plant Patent Applied For. Cultivar name: 'ACrade.'Easily the most mildew-resistant Bee Balm of all, Grand Parade® is also among the best for garden beauty, flowering over a longer season and more abundantly than other varieties. Quite compact and handsome even out of bloom with fragrant, shiny dark green foliage, it is an impressive addition to the sunny border or container.
The sweet-scented blooms are lavender and quite frilly, appearing all over this 13- to 16-inch-high plant. About 2 1/2 inches across, they contrast beautifully with the 2-inch leaves, keeping the garden colorful over a long mid- and late-summer season. Butterflies and bees cannot resist them, so consider planting Grand Parade
in the butterfly garden or near a very shallow birdbath, so that your winged visitors can drink as well as dine during their visit!
The foliage is every bit as fragrant as the flowers, with the tangy scent of mint. Quite pleasant to humans, this smell keeps deer and other nibbling creatures from eating the foliage, which makes Grand Parade® ideal for meadow and other open settings. Reaching 16 to 20 inches wide with a mounded, round habit, this plant makes a nice mass planting for the front or center of the sunny border, the front of the foundation, or even as a perimeter planting in front of a fence or wall.
But it is its mildew resistance that makes Grand Parade® so superior to other Monardas. Bred in Manitoba, it loves moist and even wet soils, making it a fine choice for waterside plantings and even for those boggy garden spots that rot out other plants. It is very low maintenance, asking only for continually moist soil to bloom heavily and naturalize in the garden. Divide the plants every 3 to 4 years to keep the flowering at its best. Zones 3-8.
