PHILANDERING WITH PHLOX 
WM. SCHMEISKE 
An American Grower Who Has Successfully Adopted the Perennial Phlox 
Tells us Something of his Hobby—Crossing for New Varieties, its Lure and 
its Uncertainty—Some Recommended Sorts for Early Autumn Planting 
2 T WAS in 1904 that I got my first inspiration with Phlox. 
Up to that time Phlox, to my mind, was the old-fash¬ 
ioned, measly, rust-infected, neglected plant then com¬ 
monly met with. I got the Phlox fever that year after 
seeing a border at its best, taken care of in an up-to-date 
manner, clean and well watered, instead of having been left to 
shift for itself and overgrown with weeds or, as when grown 
in the lawn, with grass all through. One thing the Phlox does 
not like is dividing the space with a neighbor; it is very jealous 
of its rights, though it will not put up a fight for existence. 
After seeing the beauty of the Phlox in this border, I started 
to gather plants wherever they could be found, all the standard 
sorts in American gardens were acquired and several importa¬ 
tions of the newest types from abroad. Having always in mind 
the mysteries of plant breeding, I started in with the Phlox, 
at first with not much re¬ 
sult, but after continued 
effort, success followed so 
that to-day I have a very 
large collection. 
Crossing is not an easy 
task. Burbank has tried 
it, and I could name a host 
of others who have tried 
the same thing in one way 
or another with only 
nominal results, because 
there are so many condi¬ 
tions that make for final 
success or failure. Even if 
a good crop of seeds be 
secured, there is no assur¬ 
ance that there is anything 
new to come out of it, nor 
indeed that plants will 
come up and grow success¬ 
fully, for at each step lies 
the possibility of failure. 
First, the winter will 
take its toll from the seeds; 
then in the spring if the 
winter’s rains have washed 
too much soil over the 
seeds, they will not come 
up because the load is too 
heavy and they cannot 
raise the ground on top of 
them. Then, after they do 
start growing, some will be 
stronger and will crowd 
out the weaker ones. The 
most interesting moment 
and, of course, the most 
important in the whole 
process is when they begin 
to bloom—then the gar¬ 
dener learns at last 
whether his experimenta¬ 
tion has brought failure or 
success. Most often it is 
failure, and I have seen a 
whole batch of seeds come into bloom without even one plant 
worth keeping. Then the hope of ultimate success which lures 
the experimenter ever on, causes him to repeat the entire pro¬ 
cess again the following season. 
Such experiences are not peculiar to the breeding of Phlox, 
but apply to all work of crossing. It cannot be said that there 
is a straight line to success, for none of the plant breeders have 
found it. Were it not for the thrill of expectancy and interest 
in the work, there would be no plant breeder. It is true that 
there is reward in a limited sense, for we do get some new sorts 
from time to time, though these are not commensurate with 
the work done. 
There are so many really good varieties of Phlox that it is 
difficult to discuss selections and any list is bound to stir up 
criticism, for a variety what will show well with one man may do 
poorly with somebody else. 
I have had correspondence 
with some of the growers 
who condemn plants with 
which I have success and 
there are some that I do 
not recommend which I 
find do well with other 
growers. Therefore each 
one for himself. Here are 
some personal conclusions 
based on nearly twenty 
years’ study and growing. 
Coquelicot. for instance, I 
cannot recommend unre¬ 
servedly, but find that 
other growers do. It is the 
best scarlet there is, but 
the flower-heads are small 
and the plant has not vigor 
enough to stand the cli¬ 
mate— hence my luke¬ 
warmness toward it. How¬ 
ever, there are enough 
good kinds in the field so 
that no one need lack a 
satisfactory red Phlox; 
and if any other sort be¬ 
haves in unsatisfactory 
manner, it also can be re¬ 
placed without great effort. 
The list of good ones is so 
long it is here possible to 
give passing mention to 
only a few: 
White with Pink Eye: 
Europa. Hanna Pfleiderer. 
Henry Muerger. Dr. 
Charles G. Wagner. 
Red: Mad. P. Langier. 
Boule de Feu. Coquelicot. 
Brilliance. Gen. von 
Hentz. G. H. Strothlein. 
White: Frau Von Lass- 
berg is still the superlative 
dependable. Andreas 
PHLOX, THE COOLEST OF FLOWERS 
Masses of this cool, gleaming white seem an almost indispensable 
feature of the August garden; no other flower, except perhaps the 
beautiful Madonna Lily, conveys such a sense of refreshment 
369 
