Types Of Phlox To Set Your Garden Aflame

Phlox can truly set your garden aflame with splendor, from early spring into late summer and until frost. The proper selection of species makes a possible succession of bloom from April to November.

The Phlox flower has been long considered the backbone of the perennial border and is exclusively an American contribution to the garden. The fifty known species of Phlox are all natives of North America.

blooming Phlox DrummondiPin

After their discovery here, many Phlox species were sent to Europe, where extensive breeding has produced many fine large-flowered varieties grown for midsummer bloom.

As a result, few flowers offer a wide color range, adaptability, and succession of bloom, making Phlox an outstanding garden asset.

Blue Phlox Divaricata Opens the Season With Blooms

The season opens in April with blue Phlox divaricata, sometimes called Phlox canadensis. Indigenous to the Great Lakes region, where it carpets the moist woodland areas, is happiest in rich, moist soil with part shade. It is about 18″ inches in height and exquisite combined with tulips or other bulbs in a spring border. 

Phlox d. laphami, the native blue, and Alba, the highly recommended white flowers Phlox, will yield magnificent fragrance and rare beauty to the wild garden, rock garden, or border.

Moss pink, termed a creeping lychnis when first discovered in 1696, is a lovely early-spring species appearing from late April to June.

This creeping mat-forming variety, noted for its evergreen foliage, is a must for every rock garden as a companion to arabis, aubrieta, and alyssum. 

Since it seldom exceeds 6″ inches in height, it is equally suitable as an edging for the front border, wall garden, or as a groundcover.

Creeping Phlox Subulata – Profuse May Flowers

Phlox subulata readily adapts itself to almost any condition and is available in white, pink, red, and purple shades. Vivid is a bright pink variety of neat, compact habit.

We cannot leave Phlox subulata without mentioning the long-flowering “Camla,” a lovely salmon pink. Looser and more graceful in habit than the other subtilatas, its foliage is virtually evergreen. 

It blooms profusely in May, occasionally through the summer, and sparingly throughout the fall, even as late as November.

Phlox Nivalis – Extends The Flowering Season

To extend the season of the moss pink further into June, Phlox nivalis, trailing Phlox, is recommended. It prefers sandy, loamy soil with acid reaction and good drainage. 

It is also essential to divide this variety each year and cut it back halfway, immediately after it has finished blooming.

Another May blooming phlox, with the added attraction of being an excellent cut flower, is Phlox ovata, mountain pink, which is about 12″ inches tall and has evergreen foliage. Its striking rose flowers are a notable addition to the rockery or narrow border.

Phlox Stolonifera – Woodland Phlox

Phlox stolonifera, aka Woodland Phlox, is excellent for naturalizing in woodlands.

It spreads flat on the ground and is a mass of purple blossoms that are especially charming when combined with dwarf iris and Iris cristata. They also thrive in part shade.

Tall Phlox Paniculata A Perennial Border Mainstay

The mainstay of every perennial border is Phlox paniculata, also known as Phlox decussata in trade catalogs and known to most of us as the common or tall garden phlox or summer Phlox. This group which blooms from June to frost, prefers rich soil high in organic matter. 

Since Phlox paniculata is a heavy feeder, a spring application of a 5-10-5 fertilizer is most advisable. A location in the full sun is best, although light shade is tolerated. Unfortunately, too much shade sometimes results in powdery mildew.

Set clumps at least 3′ feet apart, and the crown should be covered with an inch of soil as Phlox is not deep-rooted. Phlox looks best in groups of at least three of one variety.

If the clumps are planted too close, there is a lack of air circulation around the plants, and this often leads to powdery mildew. 

In short, Phlox demands only three things:

  • A place in the sun
  • Room to grow
  • Plenty of air to breathe

The clumps should be divided every two to three years in either spring or fall. The ideal planting time is from September to mid-October or early spring.

After planting, apply a mulch of peat-moss, leafmold, or well-rotted manure over the plants. Phlox is usually better the second year after transplanting.

For best results, water phlox by soaking the ground two or three times per week during the flowering season and be careful to keep water off the leaves. Overhead watering and rainy or humid weather promote mildew.

In case of mildew, thin the plants to allow for better air circulation and then dust them thoroughly with fine sulfur dust. The only other problem sometimes encountered with Phlox is red spider mite.

Improved varieties of Phlox paniculata are the results of hybridization. However, keeping the seeds from ripening and scattering on the beds is necessary to keep varieties true. 

Remove the tops of the plants before the seeds can mature or pull up seedlings at the base of the parent clump before they grow too large to be distinguished from the parent.

There are many notable varieties of Phlox paniculata ranging through shades of white, pink, salmon, rose red, and purple.

Phlox Suffruticosa – Early-Blooming Phlox

Special mention must be made of Phlox suffruticosa or early-blooming Phlox, of which Miss Lingard is an outstanding example. This variety is noteworthy for two reasons: 

  • Bloom commences in May and continues until frost
  • It is particularly disease-resistant

Miss Lingard has been used as a parent decussate type to produce new varieties less susceptible to leaf spot. The glossy leaves are the distinguishing feature of this variety which generally does not exceed 2′ feet in height.

Annual Phlox Drummondi – One of Our Best and Showiest Annuals 

Though our primary interest is the perennial Phlox, we must in passing mention Phlox drummondi, one of our best and showiest annuals. 

History tells us that Drummond discovered this Phlox in Texas in 1835 and gathered some seeds he sent to England. As a result of intensive breeding, we now have the full-color range.

For brilliant midsummer bloom in the rock garden, nothing surpasses Phlox drummondi nana compacta. Neat, compact in growth, and only 6″ inches in height. It also excels as a bedding plant.

The word Phlox is from the Greek meaning flame. It is well named! May this fine species, one of America’s outstanding contributions to horticulture glow brilliantly in your garden.

FGR-0552 by H Todd