84 
House b‘ Garden 
McFarland 
glory of the garden”, as Mr. 
JL Kipling says, “glorifieth everyone”, 
and not the least of its glories is the Phlox 
Family. Its members are both beautiful 
and useful; and, like other families, some 
are i\Iarys and some are Marthas. Some 
bloom when bloom is plentiful; others take 
up their work when bloom is scarce. It 
might be possible to have a 
spring garden without the 
broad drifts of creeping phlox, 
for at such a season tulips, 
narcissi, arabis, forget-me- 
nots, pansies and a score 
more of lovely things glorify 
the days, but it is well nigh 
impossible to make a mid¬ 
summer garden full of color 
tones and mounting flower 
heads without the varieties 
of Phlox paniculata. 
Another advantage this re¬ 
markable flower family offers 
is that each member is quite 
a distinct personality with a 
distinct vocation in garden 
work. Like a family in which 
one son is definitely suited for 
medicine, another for law, 
another for the church, a 
MEETING 
the 
PHLOX FAMILY 
ul Colorful luid Abundant 
Group of Flowers 
family in which one girl goes into business 
as her logical calling in life, another 
to motherhood and a third to one of the arts. 
That sort of family makes a name for itself; 
its members serve a definite purpose in the 
world. Just so the Phlox Family. It has so 
proved its usefulness that without its various 
members the garden would be poor indeed. 
Being very much individuals, each type 
requires its own kind of place and treatment 
in the garden and, given these, will flower 
abundantly in its appointed season. Spring 
brings Phlox siibulata, creeping phlox. You 
associate it with gently sloping banks, with 
the dip and curve of rocks, with sleepy quiet 
corners of graveyards, with prim border 
edgings. It comes in a variety of gentle 
tones, for hybridizers have softened the 
magenta that used to give it a bad name 
among meticulous gardeners. There is a 
white, a rosy pink, a lilac. At flowering 
time the foliage is com¬ 
pletely hidden by the tiny 
blossoms. Then follows a 
period when the dead flower 
heads make it appear rusty, 
after which the foliage be¬ 
comes evident again and 
stays a nice, soft green mat 
throughout the season. It 
wants a moist soil, but when 
there is too much rain it is 
apt to rot away. In such 
weather, clip off the plants 
close to the ground after 
flowering. 
{Continued on page 96 ) 
Wild Sweet William, Phlox 
divaricata, thrives in half¬ 
shade and is especially suit¬ 
able for woodland planting 
Phlox siibulata, creep¬ 
ing phlox, is among 
the glories of spring. 
It comes in white, 
pink and lavender 
Phlox paniculata in 
its colorful hybrids is 
the mainstay of the 
perennial border 
through Angus' 
Among the prostrate 
varieties is Phlox sto- 
lonifera, with flowers 
in purple or violet 
about a foot high 
