62 4 



PHLOX. 



THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN. 



PHLOX. 



beneath, and numerous bright yellow 

 flowers of fine effect. 



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 colour. 

 The perennials are numerous, and pre- 

 sent 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. subu- 

 lata, 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, peren- 

 nial, but with prostrate stems. Lastly, 

 there are the well-known herbaceous 

 Phloxes, which are invaluable for the 

 garden. 



Early or summer-flowering Phloxes 

 have chiefly come from P. suffruticosa. 

 They include many varieties, from 

 2 to 2 feet in height, varying princi- 

 pally in colour, 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 



?Dod surface mulching is a great help, 

 he 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 colour, 

 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 oi 

 distinct colour, the following are the 

 most effective, and can be used 

 according to the shades of colour 

 required, viz. : Mrs Jenkins, Frau 

 Ant. Buchner and Sylphide, white ; 

 Etna, orange-red ; Eclaireur, carmine 

 and salmon ; Coquelicot, rich ver- 

 milion, 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 colour ; 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 violel 

 or heliotrope. They are very beauti- 

 ful and distinct. The varieties named 

 vary from 2| to 3! 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, 



