I recently (about a month ago) received some monarda plants that I had ordered from a plant nursery out of state. When I received them, I planted them in a flower bed in my front yard near some Easter Lilies. I did not examine the new plants carefully before I planted them, so I have no idea if they are where the infestation came from or not.

I have been noticing that my monardas do not seem to be growing (but they are not dying, they are still green) and also about half of my Easter Lillies stopped growing shortly after they emerged. Today, I decided to look at my plants carefully. Some of my monardas have what I believe to be some type of scale insect. One plant in particular, is much more infested than the others. Several stems are almost covered. I have also noticed the scales closer to the bottom of the plant are much longer and kind of resemble worms or white roots.

I have also noticed that the Easter Lillies that have stopped growing also have what appears to be scales on them as well, but they look different than the ones on the monardas.

I have several other plants in the same bed (daylillies, salvia, and several herbs) that so far do not appear to have been infected. yet. I have been searching the web and cannot find a scale that looks like either one. Are they in fact, a type of scale or something else?

What is the best method for getting rid of these before they affect the rest of my landscape? Is horticulture oil the best bet or is there some type of chemical (we are not afraid to use chemicals, I just want the scales dead!) that will still work in this stage? Should I just pull the plants out and start over?

I apologize, but I tried to attach pictures, however tinypic.com does not seem to be working right now (the only way I know how) so here is a link to my original post (with pictures) in the OK forum instead.

Thank you so much for any information you may have.

Any chance weed killers were used any where in the vicinity? By you, a "helper," or a neighbor?

Yes, weed killers have been used in the immediate area. My husband is fighting a long battle with lawn weeds this year. We live in a neighborhood where many people grow weeds in their front yard for the pretty flowers (so they don't have to buy any at Lowe's) and are too lazy to mow and our HOA's sole purpose is to be loved, respected, and appreciated by most. So all those weed seeds continuously blow into our yard. The bed where the monardas and lilies does not get "treated" for weeds but it is in our front lawn so it is possible they did get some of the weed killer in them. None of those plants seem to be dying, though, they are still very green. They just refuse to "grow". My volunteer petunias and basil (re-seeded from last year's) seem to be growing just fine with no bumps, as are the daylilies, salvia, and various other herbs.