November, 19 0. ~> 



THE GARDEN MAGAZINE 



169 



246. The one annual phlox i*P. Drummondi). Comes in 

 almost every color but yellow. There are good buffs 



moss pink for all ordinary situations, and the 

 Douglas phlox (P. Douglasii) for specially 

 dry soils where the other will not grow. It is 

 found wild from Nebraska to the Pacific 

 Coast, but is little known in Eastern gardens 

 as yet. There are wild forms, varying from 

 white or lilac to purple. 



The phloxes of this type do not produce 

 seed easily and are increased by division, or 

 by cuttings which are taken off in spring 

 after the blooming season and develop into 

 nice-sized plants by the following year. An 

 easier way to build up a stock of young plants 

 is to sprinkle sandy soil on the established 

 tuft, working it in with the hands. The 

 trailing branches will root, and can be re- , 

 moved as rooted plants next season. 



Other well-known carpeting species are 

 P. amrnna, reptans and Stellaria. The last 

 named has pale-bluish white or blue flowers 

 with narrow petals, giving a star effect. It 

 grows less than a foot high and is useful to let 

 run wild on a rockery. As a plant for the 

 flower beds it is too thin and ragged looking. 

 Phlox amcena doesn't make such dense tufts 

 as the moss pink and grows generally six 

 inches high — sometimes a foot, however; 

 flowers purple, pink or white; good for dry 

 situations, but I prefer P. subulata on the 

 whole. Plant P. reptans for a creeper with 

 purple flowers, but it is a straggly looking 

 thing. Still, its color is unique in the family. 



ONE ANNUAL PHLOX 



There is just one phlox (P. Drummondi) 

 that must be sown every year. Being one of 

 those things that will surely grow, it is planted 

 each year in enormous quantities and suffers 

 from overcrowding. There should be a foot 

 of space between the plants in each direction, 

 but as a general rule the seed is broadcasted, 

 and the young plants are allowed to remain 

 where they grow without thinning. It is 

 every bit as important to thin out annuals in 

 the garden as it is to thin apples in the or- 

 chard. This is an error made in growing 

 most plants that come easily from seed. In 

 thousands of gardens where Phlox Drum- 

 mondi is sown annually it gives a few strag- 

 gling flowers and is over, whereas under bet- 

 ter conditions, with good soil and plenty of 

 room, it will continue to flower profusely all 

 summer. There are several forms of the 

 annual phlox which are offered in the seed 

 catalogues under a variety of names, but they 

 are all selections from the one species. The 

 best known are the Hevnoldi and Star. The 



latter has the petals deeply cut and a long, 

 narrow "streamer" from the end of each. 

 All these embrace a range of colors from 

 white and rose to deep crimson. 



Improvements in the colors of phlox during 

 recent years have developed, on the one hand, 

 better whites — that is, flowers of pure color, 

 with no "eye" — and, on the other hand, 

 progress has been made among the deeper 

 purple shades until some of the recent varie- 

 ties are of such a purple that under artificial 

 light they appear to be really blue. This 

 should be remembered when weighing the 

 comparative merits of varieties. There is 

 no yellow phlox; in all probability there never 

 will be. The nearest approach to a yellow 

 is in the buff varieties of the annual phlox. 



A HORTICULTURAL KEY TO THE BEST PHLOXES 



A. Duration annual Drummondi 



AA. Duration perennial. 



B. The tall growers; 2 to 4 feet. 



C. Blooming in May glaberrima 



CC. Blooming in July paniculata 



CCC. Blooming in August and September, maculata 

 BB. The low growers. 

 C. Height 1 to 2 feet. 



D. Flowers blue or bluish divaricata 



DD. Flowers pir.k Ovata 



CC. Height 6 ins. or so. 



D. Flowers purple or violet reptans 



DD. Flowers silvery gray Stellaria 



CCC. Height less than 6 inches. 



D. Flowers pink to white, blooming 



early spring subulata 



DD. Flowers pink to white, blooming 



late spring amoena 



DDD. Flowers lilac to white Douglasii 



247. A typical head of the late flowering tall perennial garden phlox (hybrids of P. maculata and paniculata, 

 and possibly others.) Gardeners have given the title Phlox decussata to this hybrid group, which flowers in one 

 form or another from June to October. Plant during October and November 



