A phlox for any spot
Plant for fragrance everywhere, from the back of the border to the front
These colourful, easy-to-grow and tolerant plants can be divided into two sections – tall, clump-forming border phlox and short-spreading alpine phlox.
Tall phlox
Flowering from July through to the end of August, the simply shaped flowers sit closely together on stiff stems to create a large and densely packed fragrant cluster. These phloxes will grow in most soils as long as they don’t dry out entirely, and even then a good slug of water will soon revive them. Tall phloxes blend easily into a border of other perennials. I particularly love them with aconitums and veronicastrums. The most popular group within the border phloxes are those that originate from Phlox paniculata. These can be found growing wild in eastern parts of northern America. Heavily scented and very colourful, the blooms range from white through to all shades of pink and violet. Hundreds of varieties have been introduced since the middle of the 20th century. Of the white varieties I’ve grown P. paniculata ‘David’ stands out. ‘Bright Eyes’ is another white, but each flower has a ring of pale pink in the centre. There are many pinks, but I particularly like ‘Eva Cullum’ as it’s both reliable and nicely scented. The most scented of the ones I grow in my garden is ‘Uspekh’, which is also listed by some nurseries under the name of ‘Laura’. A little shorter than many varieties, the flowers are rich violet and have white eyes. For vibrance I love ‘Starfire’, which has heavily red tinted leaves. Of the other types of tall phloxes, P. maculata varieties are the most reliable. They bloom earlier than P. paniculata types, are a little less fragrant and come in fewer colours (pink and/or white), but the tall, cylindrical spires of flowers are graceful. P. arendsii, a cross between low growing P. divaricata and P. paniculata, includes the lovely ‘Luc’s Lilac’, but it’s not as robust as the other tall phloxes.
Short phlox
The flowers of short phlox are similar in shape, but lack the scent of taller phloxes. They’re borne in small clusters above a ground-hugging carpet of leaves. The most numerous in variety are the mossy phloxes with the Latin name of P. subulata.
Prickly-looking leaves on prostrate stems that grow to cover a space 50cm (1¾ft) square. During May and June this carpet is covered with flowers that range from white to pink and violet. A true alpine, mossy phlox needs a very well-drained soil in a sunny position.
P. divaricata, known as the woodland phlox, is slightly taller and likes a shadier position. Although they’re beautiful, I have yet to succeed with them because the winters are too wet. Slightly taller again is P. glaberrima
‘Bill Baker’. I grow this delightful plant on the corner of a border, where it grows to 45cm (1½ft) high and spreads twice as far. The lilac-pink blooms start in early June and continue well into summer. Like many phloxes, it’s extremely tough.