238. The moss pinK (P. sabulMa) is valuable for banKs where grass will not grow, 

 and for shady places under trees, but prefers sun. Numerous varieties 



239. The blue phlox (P. dmaricata) will flourish in woods and in rocKeries. It 

 is not well adapted for planting in flower beds. One of the few blue flowers 



All the Species Of Phlox Worth Cultivating— By Leonard Barron s 



A GUIDE THAT WILL HELP ONE MASTER THE COMPLICATED GROUP OF TALL PERENNIAL 

 GARDEN PHLOXES— THE CREEPING PHLOXES, WHICH CARPET THE HILLSIDE WITH CON- 

 TINUOUS SHEETS OF FLOWERS IN SPRING — A NOVEL FEATURE IN WILD GARDENING 



Article IV in the series of "Little Monographs" 



USUALLY, when speaking of phloxes, the 

 tall perennial phloxes are meant, but 

 there are dwarf species which carpet the 

 ground on slopes where grass will not grow. It 

 is an interesting commentary on American 

 horticulture that we still look abroad, espe- 



240. One of the most distinct forms of the annual 

 Phlox Drummondi is the "Star." The petals are deeply 

 cut. Easily grown from seed 



daily to France, for the best and newest in 

 the perennial phlox. It is a purely American 

 plant, the product of two or three native 

 species, yet we are dependent upon the Old- 

 World florists. 



THREE TALL PERENNIAL PHLOXES 



These perennial phloxes are the very much 

 improved descendants of several wild species, 



all natives of North America, from Canada 

 to Florida and west to Minnesota. The two 

 chief species are Phlox paniculate and Phlox 

 maculata. The first of these is a tall plant, 

 with small, thin flowers of a rather disagree- 

 able pink-purple color, varying to white, 

 and of no garden value save earliness. 

 Phlox maculata is also tall, having a spotted 

 stem, flower heads narrower and dwarf er; 

 the flowers are pink or purple and worthy of 

 cultivation. 



In the garden varieties the blossoms are 

 borne in large panicles, often a foot or more 

 in length, on stems two to five feet high. 

 The colors range from pure white to scarlet, 

 purple, pink and dark crimson, with endless 

 intermediate shades. The varieties vary 

 considerably in vigor, habit of growth and 

 time of blooming. Some of the earlier sorts 

 begin to bloom in June, others will be two or 

 three weeks later, and a few — the well- 

 known old white variety, Pearl, for example 

 — seldom come into bloom before August. 

 A still earlier flowering type {Phlox glaber- 

 rima), which comes into bloom in May, is but 

 little cultivated here, although a favorite in 

 Europe. All these have been hybridized, and 

 the whole mongrel race is often spoken of as 

 Phlox decussata. For garden purposes this 

 artificial group is a convenience, yet the 

 name is misleading. 



The later tall flowering phloxes are divided 

 into summer and autumn flowering, accord- 

 ing as they partake of P. maculata (June-July) 

 or P. paniculata (July- August). . The early 

 flowering P. glaberrima varieties have also 

 been blended with the late maculatas, result- 

 ing in a bewildering confusion when any effort 

 is made to identify them by species. Gener- 

 ally, the early flowering type is more dwarf 

 and has a perfectly conical head of flowers. 

 167 



The later types have flatter and broader 

 flower heads. The Carolina phlox (P. ovata), 

 which flowers in May, is of lower habit than 

 the others — about one and one-half feet. 



The perennial phloxes show to a very 

 remarkable degree the correlation of color in 

 different parts of the plant. It is easy to tell 

 beforehand whether your plants are to have 

 light or dark shades in the flowers. White 

 flowers invariably accompany plain stems; 

 blue, purple and red are accompanied by 

 more or less brownish color of the stems. 

 This is true even in the Phlox maculata, the 

 white-flowered varieties of which are with- 

 out spotted stems. 



A great charm of the phloxes is that they 



241. The flowers of the moss pinK are so profuse 

 that the tuft becomes a sheet of solid color. Un- 

 equalled for wild planting on rocKeries and banKs 



