PHLOX. 



THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN. 



PHLOX. 



625 



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. 



P. DIVARICATA. A handsome plant 

 from N. America, larger than either the 

 Creeping Phlox (P. reptans] or the Moss 

 Pink (P. subulata}, and about i foot high, 

 with large lilac-purple blossoms in sum- 

 mer, 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 colour and of much 

 stronger growth, reaching 1 8 or 20 inches. 

 Its great value is, however, the fact that 

 it flowers considerably later. Rock gar- 

 den in good soil. Increased by cuttings 

 and division. 



P. DRUMMONDI. One of the best of 

 half-hardy annuals, varied and brilliant 

 in colour. 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 to 60. 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 end- 

 less, and some very distinct named sorts 

 differ from the type not only in colour, 

 but in growth and the shape of their 

 flowers. 



P. OVATA CAROLINA. A handsome 

 plant, about i 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. 



P. PILOSA. A pretty plant i to 2 feet 

 high, large flat clusters of white, pink, or 

 purple flowers, \ to f 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. 



P. REPTANS (Creeping Phlox). 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 situa- 

 tions, and is readily increased by division. 

 Syn. P. verna and P. stolonifera. 



P. 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. 5. violacea is a 

 handsome Scotch variety, more lax in 

 growth and with deeper coloured 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. 



P. 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 beauti- 

 fully clean-looking and healthy, and the 

 charming pale mauve flowers are carried 

 in profusion. 



P. SUBULATA (Moss Pink). A moss-like 

 little evergreen, the flowers pinkish-purple 

 or rose-colour, with a dark centre, and so 

 dense as to completely hide the plant. 

 The stems, though 4 inches to i 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 i 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. 



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 un- 

 flowered shoots make the best cuttings, 

 and root with greater certainty. Heel 



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