Filipendula, Queen of the Prairie, is now turning from a tall, pink plume to a spare, golden sceptre. Who will be next in the succession of garden royalty? Maybe Monarda didyma, commonly known as Bee Balm (much less heraldic). This monarda moved with me from our old house to our new house. It survived having been mistaken for a weed and whacked to the ground by my husband the year we got our first gas-powered brush cutter. It has survived wet summers when it dropped nearly every leave from powdery mildew. It has survived dry summers when I failed to water it adequately. Monarda is considered by most to be quite common, maybe even on the verge of being a weed, but there is something regal in the delicate crown-like bloom it shows for so many weeks in mid-summer. For now, let's just call it monarcha.