198 
PHLOX COLDRYANA. 
to their inspection. We deem it needful, however, to apprise them that the 
colouring of our figure is deeper than that of the natural plant, and that the 
flowers are of a hue which may be best described by saying, that lilac, purple, 
and pink, seem blended together in order to compose it. No minutely correct 
copy of it could be furnished on paper. 
In conjunction with the well-known species of Phlox which adorn our flower- 
gardens and shrubbery borders, it is a plant of simple culture. Still, it is not 
every one who experiences the success common in some places, and there are 
certain particulars to be kept in view by which alone a sickly state can be avoided, 
and a flourishing one maintained. The most important of these is that the soil of 
the spot in which the plants are located be a more than usually rich loam, rather 
retentive of moisture, but not so much so as to cause saturation in winter, or 
excessive drought during summer, and sufiiciently elevated or exposed to render 
the first of these conditions nearly impossible. 
These circumstances duly provided for, no permanent benefit will result from 
them unless a biennial or triennial shifting is efibcted ; for Phloxes will not luxuriate 
long together on the same soil, and must be occasionally moved to another bed or 
situation that has been occupied by a difi'erent group of objects. At the season of 
removal, it is not desirable to divide the specimens into a greater or less number of 
pieces, as with many herbaceous plants ; because the growth of the species is of a 
nature which is most advantageously exhibited when each plant constitutes a mass 
one foot or more across. 
As P. Coldryana does not exceed two feet in height, and sometimes scarcely 
reaches so much, it is nicely fitted for planting in the larger beds of a flower- 
garden. For a contrast, P. omniflora^ which is without exception the most 
elegant of the white-flowering species, and is barely surpassed by those with more 
brilliant colours, may be placed in a contiguous bed ; and both can be securely 
returned to the supply-garden after their flowers have withered, if a considerable 
ball of soil be allowed to attach itself to their roots. 
Multiplication is performed by division of the plant at the base. Seeds will 
not of course reproduce it ; but the pollen of this or of P. Drummondii applied to 
the stigma of a white-blooming Phlox^ would probably occasion another interesting 
hybrid. 
