152 ROGK GARDENING FOR AMATEURS 



it be well drained. At least a foot depth of good soil 

 is essential. They thrive best in a position that is not 

 exposed to the midday sun, and should preferably be 

 planted facing west or east. An old wall, dry built, 

 with a cool aspect, offers an ideal home for the dwarf 

 Phloxes ; if small specimens are planted at the top they 

 will soon form cascades of leaf and blossom, falling over 

 the wall face. 



Phlox amoena has characteristic trailing growths, 

 and in May yields its lovely rose-coloured blossoms in 

 great abundance. 



P. divaricata is a taller kind, about twelve inches 

 high, with pale lilac flowers P. Laphami is a very 

 beautiful variety of this, bearing light lilac-blue flowers 

 very freely. 



P. procumbens, lilac with purple markings, and P. 

 ovata, purple-rose, are two other good dwarf Phloxes, 

 though they lack the freedom of blooming so characteristic 

 of the Moss Pink. 



P. reptans (the Creeping Phlox, synonym P. verna) 

 is of much looser growth, and lacking the compactness 

 of some of the others ; but its large rose-coloured blooms 

 in early May are very handsome. 



P. Stellaria is a vigorous kind with white flowers ; 

 its variety lilacina, having lavender-blue blossoms, is 

 especially attractive. 



P. subulata, the Moss Pink, forms close, small-leaved 

 tufts of foliage, that in April bear their pink flowers 

 very freely. There are now numerous varieties of the 



