WILD BLUE PHLOX (Sweet William) 

 Phlox divaricata L. 



April - May Wild blue phlox is in bloom and it is April again. That 

 Woods is the remarkable thing al^out springdime, that jig-saw 



puzzle intricately put together from all the widely scat- 

 tered pieces of itself. Take the dull face of late winter and add a bit of 

 green that looks like new grass, and add a plump robin running impor- 

 tantly across it, and there is the beginning of the puzzle called spring. 



The pieces of the Illinois springtime are scattered widely from 

 Illinois to the Argentine, from the tops of the trees and the open sky 

 to the lowest grasp of root in the earth. Somehow, piece by piece, from 

 far ])laces or from close at hand, they come back or they spring from 

 the ground, or they grow, aud nuigically they all fit together. Each bird 

 which returns from the south adds one more bit to the picture; each wild 

 ilower has its place. And if the spring beauties forgot to bloom, or if a 

 blight hit all the wild blue phlox, how empty would be the April woods, 

 how iuiperfect the ])atteni of the spiing. 



The wild blue phlox or sweet william is spread lavishly through all 

 the oak woods of Illinois, iu uplands and in bottondands, along country 

 roads where once there were woods, and adapts itself agreeably to use 

 in gardens where it usually blooms when the ])ink tuli])s and late datfodils 

 are at their best. 



Wild blue phlox is a tubular flower with five spreading, oblong petals 

 which vary from piuk-lavendei- through many shades of pale lavender 

 and blue-violet, to pure white. The flowers ap])ear in clusters at the ti))S 

 of the slender stems, upon which are ari-angcd several pairs of clasping, 

 dull green leaves. The basal leaves of the blue phlox usually remain green 

 and above ground throughout the year. 



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