Phlox: Growing Perennial Phlox for Fragrant Summer Color

Catherine Boeckmann

Phlox are beloved perennials and wildflower favorites. Their many star-shaped, colorful blooms offer a type for almost any garden. Phlox make excellent groundcovers and complement other groundcovers beautifully. They're easy-care and low-maintenance. Add some to bouquets for lovely fragrance.

Planting Phlox

• Prepare bed: loosen soil 12–15 inches deep; mix in 2–4 inches of compost.
• Easier from cuttings/transplants than seeds.
• Plant in spring, spacing 1–2 ft apart. For potted plants: dig hole twice pot diameter; set plant so root ball top is level with soil. Backfill and water thoroughly.

Three growth categories:

1. Woodland species (Blue phlox, Creeping phlox): evenly moist, humus-rich soil; full to partial sun.
2. Low, mounding phlox (Sand phlox, Chattahoochee): average, well-drained, sandy/loamy soil; full sun.
3. Border phlox (Carolina, Meadow, Garden phlox): moist, well-drained, average-to-rich soil; full to partial sun.

Care

• Water regularly if rainfall < 1 inch/week in summer.
• Each spring: thin compost layer + 2 inches mulch to retain moisture and control weeds.
• Deadhead faded flowers for rebloom.
• Tall phlox: cut stems to 1–2 inches above soil after first killing frost. Divide every 2–3 years for healthy, disease-free plants.

Pests and Diseases

• Powdery mildew
• Stem canker
• Rust
• Southern blight
• Stem nematodes
• Leaf spots
• Leaf miners
• Caterpillars

Recommended Varieties

• Creeping phlox (Phlox stolonifera) – Excellent groundcover, especially under shrubs (likes shade).
• Wagon wheel (Phlox adsurgens) – Pretty salmon-pink flowers with wheel-spoke petals.
• Sternenzauber (Phlox drummondii) – Fringed, pointed star-like flowers.

Wit & Wisdom

Native Americans called April's full Moon the "Full Pink Moon" for the appearance of moss pink (wild ground phlox)—one of spring's first flowers.