CHAPTER XV 



THE PHLOXES 



Every thing beautiful impresses us as sufficient to itself. 



— Thoreau. 



THE Phlox family is one upon which we should look 

 with special interest, for it is American in 47 

 of the 48 species allowed it in the "Standard Cyclo- 

 pedia of Horticulture." A few other plants have this dis- 

 tinction, the American Cowslip (Dodecatheon) for one, 

 but none other has attained such worldwide fame as to 

 make it an object of national pride. 



Of the many species few are grown. Indeed, save for the 

 tall midsummer Phloxes, hybrids of Phlox decussata and 

 suffruticosa, only two perennials are seen with any frequency 

 in this their native land — P. divaricata and the little creeping 

 P. subulata. This is a pity, for while we strive for success 

 with unwilling aliens that frequently reward us in a sorry 

 manner, these natives, accustomed to our climatic excesses, 

 would give us far more luxuriant and satisfactory results. 

 As is too often the case, it remains for our cousins across 

 the water to sing the praises of an American flower. Mr. 

 Reginald Farrer writes of the dwarf Phlox species as "a 

 race of indispensables beyond all indispensables for the 



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