HOUSE AND GARDEN 
October, 
1914 
219 
later summer flowering kinds embraced in the decussata group, 
in several ways — notably in their creeping habit and their lack 
of fragrance. Phlox subulata is probably familiar to everyone, 
for few old doorvards 
lack a mass of it — 
usually in its least at¬ 
tractive color, which 
is a vivid pinkish- 
lilac. It is used for 
ground cover and 
makes a thick mat, 
like a rug, wherever 
it once is established, 
spreading each year 
little by little. Partly 
covering a boulder or 
on a rough bank there 
are few things more 
effective, if a white 
flowered form is sub¬ 
stituted for the rather 
painful rosy - lilac. 
The plant varies 
greatly and the white 
forms frequently run 
into pink and pale 
lavender in most 
wonderful opalescent 
effects. But the out-and-out lavender 
form is never anything else; so I should 
never advise buying it. Get the white 
and let it develop color if it will, in pref¬ 
erence to this other shade. 
Another low-growing phlox is P. 
Douglasii, suited to a dry soil where P. 
subulata will not thrive. This also comes 
in white and runs from this to purple. 
Then there is Phlox reptans, with really 
blue-purple flowers, recommended as a 
carpet plant where one wants this color. 
straggly to be very satisfactory, and, as a general thing, I would 
advise sticking to P. subulata for all carpet effects wherever they 
may be — unless the soil is very dry, in which case use P. Douglasii. 
But it is not to be 
understood by this 
that P. subulata re¬ 
quires wet ground. It 
will not do well at all 
if there is too much 
moisture and fre¬ 
quently rots away in 
spots, if it has been 
a long time planted, 
when there is an ex¬ 
tended period of rain 
or damp weather. 
Clipping it off close to 
the ground — that is, 
shearing away the 
leaves all over the 
mass, not cutting 
away the stems them¬ 
selves — is said to be 
a preventative mea¬ 
sure, after the bloom¬ 
ing is done. 
Another early 
spring blooming spe¬ 
cies is the blue flowered, fragrant, wild 
Sweet William — Phlox divaricata — which 
does so well in shade. The unusual 
color of it makes it particularly effective 
where the sun does not shine, and if a 
garden has a touch of wilderness about 
it nothing can be lovelier than a mass of 
this edging a wood. It is a creeping 
plant, yet its flowers rise on stems some¬ 
times eighteen inches high, and it may be 
used in the garden if no woodland bor¬ 
der invites it and one is anxious for its 
No flower equals phlox for massing along borders as background. Divaricala shown here blossoms from 
May until the time of frost 
"Queen,” a hybrid, with pinkish-white petals, shows 
evidences of foreign crossing 
From a wild flower found throughout the southwest 
was developed the hybrid "Miss Lingard” 
It is less dense 
growing and a tal¬ 
ler plant, however, 
than P. subulata, 
and so is less satis¬ 
factory as a mass, 
except in such 
places as do not re¬ 
quire a planting for 
close inspection. It 
is too loose and 
color and early 
time of bloom. 
The early flow¬ 
ering division of 
the tall growing 
phloxes begins to 
blossom in May, 
and from then on 
until frost the pro¬ 
cession moves, fol¬ 
lowing discrimina- 
A typical form of paniculata hybrid has rose-colored 
petals and dark eyes 
