Phlox

Phlox - For the most part showy garden perennials; but the annual P. Drummondi alone has produced distinct varieties enough to furnish a garden with almost every shade of color. The perennials are numerous, and present such variety in habit that for the garden they may be divided into three distinct groups. One is alpine in habit; of this the beautiful P. subulata, or Moss Pink, is the best known, but there are many others in the Rocky Mountains and westward, some of them more truly alpine. Next to these are several that may be grouped as running or creeping Phloxes, perennial, but with prostrate stems. Lastly, there are the well-known herbaceous Phloxes, which are invaluable for the garden.

Add a colorful border to your yard.

Early or summer-flowering Phloxes have chiefly come from P. suffruticosa. They include many varieties, from 2 to 2 1/2 feet in height, varying principally in color, and flowering during June and July. They grow in any good border or bed, and if the sub-soil be too wet, it must be drained and enriched with good old manure. In the south of England, and especially on warm dry soils, these early Phloxes often do best in partial shade, being more sensitive to fierce sun heat than the later kinds. In dry seasons a good surface mulching is a great help. The following are some of the finest: Attraction, Burns, Charles Downie, Conqueror, Duke of Athole, James Hunter. John Fairband, Lady Napier, Miss Robertson, Mrs Craven, Mrs Duncan, Mrs Forbes, Mrs J. Hope, Mrs Leckie, Mrs Miller, Nettie Stewart, Perfection, Snowdon.

Herbaceous Phloxes have been obtained by hybridising and selecting from various N. American species, principally P. paniculata and its varieties acuminata, decussata, and pyramidalis, which are stronger and taller than the early Phloxes, and immediately succeed them in flower, thus prolonging the season. Within the last few years there has been great advance in these plants, both in habit and freedom of flower. They are now bright and varied in color, including all shades from rich vermilion to pure white, the old dingy purples and magentas having disappeared. These Phloxes are gross feeders and repay generous treatment and rich soils. Being great surface rooters, too, they are much benefited during the growing and flowering season by a mulching of old manure or loam with artificial manure added, and by copious waterings of weak liquid manure or water. Saturating the beds once each week is the most satisfactory way, and to make this effective it were better that the surface of the beds be slightly below that of the surrounding level. For large beds, and to get bold masses of distinct color, the following are the most effective, and can be used according to the shades of color required, viz.: Mrs Jenkins, Frau Ant. Buchner and Sylphide, white; Etna, orange-red; Eclaireur, carmine and salmon; Coquelicot, rich vermilion, but not always easy to grow; Boule de feu, scarlet with a dark eye; Eclatante, crimson shaded orange; Crepuscule, silvery mauve with crimson centre; Aubrey Alder, pale salmon-carmine eye; Aurora, salmon-rose; Baron von Dedem, brilliant scarlet, best of its color; Elizabeth Campbell, handsome light salmon, indispensable; Dr Konigshofer, orange-scarlet, very brilliant; Eugene Danzauvilliers, lilac and white; General van Heutz, brilliant salmon-red. Iris, Le Mahdi, and Widar are of shades of violet or heliotrope. They are very beautiful and distinct. The varieties named vary from 2 1/2 to 3 1/2 feet in height.

Phloxes are propagated in various ways: by seeds cuttings of the young shoots in spring, by division, and by root cuttings in autumn and winter. The first and last should be left to the commercial man. Propagation by cuttings in spring is best effected by early lifting the plants and placing them in a frame, the resulting growth rooting more quickly and certainly than shoots taken direct from plants in the open. In a frame or in gentle heat cuttings of the freshly made shoots root in about three weeks. Cutting propagation is necessary periodically in order to maintain vigour, the plants giving their best spikes when from two to four years old. Propagation by division is easy. The only pieces of value, however, are the young vigorous ones around the outside of the clump, and in particular those which run out at a short distance from the clump. The solid woody portion of the clump is useless and should be rejected.

The leaves also strike, but this is a very slow way. As regards division, this consists in taking the old plant and cutting it into small pieces. The habit of the plant should be strong and erect, with plenty of broad and healthy foliage, and not exceed 3 or 4 feet.

Phlox Pictures

Phlox L. - phlox

Phlox diffusa Benth. - spreading phlox

Phlox diffusa Benth. - spreading phlox

Phlox divaricata L. - wild blue phlox

Phlox divaricata L. - wild blue phlox

Phlox glaberrima L. - smooth phlox

Related Flowers

Phlox Divaricata

Phlox Divaricata - A handsome plant from N. America, larger than either the Creeping Phlox (P. reptans) or the Moss Pink (P. subulata), and about 1 foot high, with large lilac-purple blossoms in summer, while the leaves are rounded at the base, and are egg-shaped or lance-shaped. There is a good pure white form, and a new garden variety Laphamii, with larger flowers of deeper color and of much stronger growth, reaching 18 or 20 inches. Its great value is, however, the fact that it flowers considerably later. Rock garden in good soil. Increased by cuttings and division.

Phlox Drummondi

Phlox Drummondi - One of the best of half-hardy annuals, varied and brilliant in color. Seed should be sown about the first week in March in shallow pans or boxes, in a light rich soil, and a warm and rather moist temperature. Prick off the seedlings when fit to handle in boxes, or a bed in a warm house in a temperature of 50 degrees to 60 degrees. Here they will soon grow, and place them out in the shade to harden as the weather gets warm. Those growing in a bed should be again transplanted to a prepared bed in a cold frame, kept covered for a few days, and hardened gradually. When the plants are 3 to 4 inches high, pinch out the main shoot, to induce bushy growth and prolong the flowering period. The bed should be fully exposed to the sun, and if good moist soil, the plants will be uninjured even in the hottest weather. Varieties are endless, and some very distinct named sorts differ from the type not only in color, but in growth and the shape of their flowers.

Phlox Ovata Carolina

Phlox Ovata Carolina - A handsome plant, about 1 foot high, with slender stems terminated by a cluster of large showy deep rose flowers very useful for cutting. P. ovata has broader leaves, while P. nitida is also handsome. P. glaberrima is far less important. These kinds flower in summer, in ordinary soil and an open spot. Cuttings or division.

Phlox Pilosa

Phlox Pilosa - A pretty plant 1 to 2 feet high, large flat clusters of white, pink, or purple flowers, 1/2 to 3/4 inch in diameter, appearing from June to August. It is one of the rarest of cultivated Phloxes, though a spurious kind is sometimes sold for it. The true plant reminds one of P. Drummondi. Another rare species is the true P. bifida, an elegant plant, the flowers bluish-purple.

Creeping Phlox

Creeping Phlox (Phlox Reptans) - This is a beautiful little plant, sending up numbers of stems from 4 to 6 inches at the end of April or beginning of May, each bearing from five to eight deep-rose flowers Of mat-forming habit and easiest culture, it thrives best in moist loam and cool situations, and is readily increased by division. Syn. P. verna and P. stolonifera.

Phlox Setacea

Phlox Setacea - Sometimes considered the same as P. subulata, but its leaves are longer and farther apart on its trailing stems, the whole plant being less rigid. The flowers are of a charming soft rosy-pink, and have delicate markings at the mouth of the tube. P. s. violacea is a handsome Scotch variety, more lax in growth and with deeper colored flowers, almost crimson. Both the variety and the type are lovely plants for the rock garden, where, with roots deeply seated among the fissures and enjoying coolness and moisture, they thrive luxuriantly in any amount of sunshine.

Phlox Stellaria

Phlox Stellaria - This little plant is often confused with P. subulata, but is quite distinct, with much longer, narrow, pale green leaves, and white flowers. There are several fine garden varieties belonging here, with lilac or mauve flowers on dark wiry stems, their petals set starwise. They flower in May and June, and are exceedingly beautiful in masses, but they do not hug the ground like the more mossy forms of subulata. The form called lilacina in particular is so strong that it is best used by itself, or its stems overrun the dwarfer kinds. Its leaves are beautifully clean-looking and healthy, and the charming pale mauve flowers are carried in profusion.

Moss Pink

Moss Pink (Phlox Subulata) - A moss-like little evergreen, the flowers pinkish-purple or rose-color, with a dark centre, and so dense as to completely hide the plant. The stems, though 4 inches to 1 foot high, are always prostrate, so that the dense matted tufts are seldom more than 6 inches high; but in moist, sandy, and well-drained soil, when the plant is fully exposed, the tufts attain a diameter of several feet and a height of 1 foot or more. P. frondosa is a vigorous form, and in light garden soil its trailing branches will soon cover almost a square yard of surface. P. nivalis is as trailing, but smaller, and with shorter, more densely arranged leaves. Its flowers are snow-white. P. Nelsoni is a hybrid between P. subulata and its forms, as it possesses foliage of an intermediate character; the flowers pure white with a charming pink eye.

Dwarf Phloxes

The dwarf Phloxes are so closely allied that general cultural remarks will suffice. Well-drained ordinary garden soil and sunny exposure are essential. Though perfectly hardy, the damp atmosphere of mild winters is fatal, and as the plants do not seed freely, they must be increased by cuttings. Inch-long, young unflowered shoots make the best cuttings, and root with greater certainty. Heel cuttings, too, with the lowest leaves removed, are also excellent. Insert in very sandy soil June to August, placing cutting pots in handlight in frame or greenhouse. They will soon root, and become good flowering plants the following season. With large patches, the readiest way is to sprinkle sandy soil over the entire plant and to work the same gently amongst the branches with the hand. If this be done during the summer or the early autumn, the trailing branches will form roots the following season, and may be planted elsewhere. These Phloxes are charming in spring, hardy, and form gay cushions on the level ground, or pendent sheets from the tops of crags or from chinks in the rock garden. Rocky hills and sandy wastes in N. America.

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