PHLOX 



471 



PHLOX 

 Hardy Species 



One of the most useful 

 perennials, and the best Phlox 

 for the florist, is Miss Lingard. 

 No other hardy plant I know 

 of is to be compared with it 

 for the florist who has design 

 work to make up, and this 

 applies to about every retail 

 grower. You can have the 

 plants in bloom from the 

 middle of June on and you 

 will cut long-stemmed, pyra- 

 mid-shaped flower heads, use- 

 ful for all kinds of purposes, 

 up to time for frost. Then, dur- 

 ing Spring and Fall, you can 

 sell the field-grown plants to 

 your customers. 



You want white in every 

 perennial border; in fact, I 

 don't think we use enough of 

 it to set off the other colored 

 flowers. It is all well and good 

 to have your lady patron talk 

 about a yellow or blue or pink 

 effect and that she wants 

 nothing else in her border. 



Fig. 237.— Phlox Miss Lingard. If I had 

 to name the one best Phlox for the florist, here 

 it is. Every retail grower should have a 

 few hundred plants to cut from. By root- 

 ing several lots of cuttings during the Win- 

 ter, from plants grown on a Carnation 

 bench, you can cut flowers from the middle 

 of June until snow flies. (See Fig. 81, page 

 236.) 



That usually lasts one season, or maybe two; then we go back to a 

 cheery mixture. For after all, the first thing about any border, 

 whether planted with annuals or hardy stock, is that it creates a 

 mass of bloom all Summer, and it takes groups of white flowering 

 plants to bring out the others. Colors never clash if you 

 have enough white among them; white goes well with almost 

 anything. 



Not only should every florist have a good batch of Miss Lin- 

 gard, but he should have some of the other beautiful Phloxes avail- 

 able; among those we have today varieties W. G. Egan and EUza- 

 beth Campbell are two of the finest, being light and rose-pink, 

 respectively, with large flowers. You can always sell a pink Phlox 

 when a red or lavender or cerise one cannot be sold. 



When you once have a stock of Phlox, you can with the help of 

 a greenhouse increase it rapidly and easily and there is no trouble 

 in disposing of a good number of plants each year at a good profit. 



