I use a tomato cage or a trellis. I always keep them moist.

Wish I could help, Tom, but this is also my first year to try 'Jacob Cline'. So far, mine haven't grown much at all since I put them in the ground.

ooh, great subject for a thread. my first year to try it, too. I pinched mine when I planted them out. they were droopy on top when I got them. I don't know if they droop/fall normally or not.
are the leaves wilty? is it getting enough water?
one of my pineapples and one monarda were wilty yesterday. I watered at dusk and they look better today.
beebalm experts, help us out.
thanks.

I'm no expert but they do a bit better in some shade for me. I have mine planted in soil that is on the sandy side, and they do well. Mine also stay erect and I only water when it's real dry. Hope this helps.

I put mine in a large pot, and will soon need an even larger pot, because it spreads so badly. It needs watering every few days, even in this cool weather. It will doubtless need some suppourt unless you plant it next to another tall plant which can hold it up. I have one big bud coming. It fell over right after I bought it, and a bunch of branches got bent - they are happily growing back up from the bends and it is just scary looking.

I am keeping mine watered. I sure hope that I see some blooms this year. I know that sometimes it takes two seasons to have blooms.

Tom I'm wondering if your Fla weather is just too hot for the Jacob Cline. I would definitely transplant them all to a shadier spot and hope they do better there next year . It's a shame because they are such beautiful plants, but you being in Fla I'm sure you have plenty of other great hummer plant choices.
-setphen

A tomato cage is a thought, but we get really bad storms with high winds in the summer--not to mention the hurricanes that hit Florida. I'm afraid that if I put a cage over it the wind will take the cage and the plant and deposit them in my neighbor's yard.

I've had the same problem with trellises. We had a storm last june that bent my metal poles. It took me a month and a lot of work to straighten them and then re-support them. I put in heavy metal poles with 180 pounds of concrete supporting them. The poles are eight feet high and I have them about two or three feet in the ground. I'm dreading the winds of summer.

I need more caterpillars to be eating my vines, but that's another thread.

Tom, I'm in Pearland,(Houston)Tx where it's plenty hot and humid. My Jacob cline is in 3 places , all get morning sun and afternoon shade. All 3 locations are starting to bloom now . They are about 2' tall , so I put some 6' remesh cages around them for support. Pretty plant ,nice scent,and I saw hummers on them last Summer and Fall. Just a thought , but I might consider putting a chicken wire arch with some burlap closepinned to the top over the ones in full sun untill September. Tom in Pearland,(Houston)Tx Z9a.

Here is a link that might be useful: GardenWeb

They like water and I think shade at least in Florida mine are in the sun but I live outside of Philadelphia and if they fall over stake them that's what I do. Sarah

I'm having problems with my Monarda, too. I'm in Iowa & they get morning shade & afternoon sun. It's been on the dry side lately, so, I'm watering every evening. Mine are about 4 feet tall & the bottom leaves are turning yellow and dropping off. They look pretty sad! I have recently mulched to keep the weeds down, but, that made no difference to the Monarda. Any suggestions???

sewnjoy
Try to provide your Monarda with at least some filtered shade in the afternoon. Hot sun seems to stress them too much and they will go very limp. I have use landscape fabric to provide a tent for mine in the afternoon when I transplanted it until it was able to adapt.

Penny

Some of the bottom leaves on mine are yellow too. It's in partial shade But the main problem I have is it's spread so much from the original plants that it takes over that part of the flower bed. Sarah

uh-oh, penny, I think I've put one of mine in a bad spot, then. it gets hot afternoon sun, and it's the one that was very wilted 2 days ago. despite watering, everything here has been wilty and droopy, with monarda and pineapple sage looking the worst. we only received 1.01" of rain in may! june has been kinder, with 2 cloudy days of pleasant afternoon rains of about 1/2" each day. despite losing some B&B and petunia blossoms to the rain, everything looks much better, and the monarda are standing up straight and look great. it's amazing how much more beneficial one rainfall is than one watering.

My bee balm Jacob Cline monarda grows wild and spread and tall! This is our situation. We have acid soil with clay & sand so we put loom soil on top to create a mound of dirt next to our house. Planted it in 2003 in front of our window. We put lots of pine mulch around it to keep it cool underground and it gets mid-day to late afternoon sun - no sun in the morning. Water it when there's been no rain plus once a month put in a little bit of Miracle Gro food. In 2004 it grew to about 6-7 feet tall and spread to about 4 foot wide area. We did put several tall stakes around it and wrapped it with some fishing line so it wouldn't be unattrative because this plant does topple over and looks messy. In 2005 it is now about a 6 foot wide area so we will have to divide it either in the fall or next spring. The beautiful burgundy red spiky flower does attract alot of hummingbirds in our area and the aroma is so refreshing! hope this helps from MA!

All my monarda see to do better with morning sun and afternoon shade. I am also spraying all of them this year with baking soda and water before the powdery mildew decides to kick in. And yes they do spred like wild fire. As my Jacobs Cline grows and spreads, I am removing the others.

Penny

Hi...I am posting my first follow-up as a new member!! Interesting that others are having trouble with 'Jacob Cline'. I have had it for 3 years in 3 different locations with different exposures and it just does not perform. I pinched, I divided and it is now only about 24 inches tall with pathetically meager budding. The color is also disappointing: muddy burgundy"ish". I was expecting clear RED!! I thought I might have bought something mislabeled but this forum suggests that it is not consistent. Oh well...I'm ripping it out tomorrow..must make room for others. Goodnight all.

I also had the "too-tall" and "droopy" problem two years running. I was advised in a book (name escapes me) to cut the stems in half when they hit about 18" (before blooming) which I tried this past spring: excellent result. Still got some mildew and leaf drop late in the season, but I think that's par for the course. The plant gets fairly strong sun midday, filtered otherwise.

To expand on Cookie's idea you can try this if you have alot of beebalm next summer.

Let it all come up for about the first month or so. Mentally section it off into thirds. Leave the back third alone, but trim the third in front of it back about halfway to the ground, then trim the last third all the way to the ground - it will resprout and you'll have a longer, staggered bloom season. This works on asters, catmint and goldenrod too, and probably others that I don't know about.

Don't do this until the plants are pretty well established and have spread.

Baking soda is very good for helping slow down mildew (as mentioned above by Penny) some people add a few drops of vegetable oil to the baking soda / water mix to help it stick to the leaves. If you have a lot of beebalm you can thin it a bit to provide better air circulation which will also help prevent mildrew. Monarda seem to be like phlox in that the mildrew doesn't really hurt them - it just doesn't look good to us.

It definitely does like moisture, and I'd put it where there's morning sun and afternoon shade if possible . Altho the wild variety grows in the ditches in Iowa just fine.