Garden Phlox
We had visitors in our garden last night and one of our guests, who had moved to Bellingham from the Houston area a couple of years ago, asked about the showy and fragrant flowers blooming at the edge of our patio. He was unfamiliar with garden phlox, Phlox paniculata. The photo below shows what our friend saw and commented on.
Garden phlox is also known as fall phlox, summer phlox (confusing, I know), perennial phlox, and panicled phlox. It’s native to much of the eastern US (note that the linked USDA map shows it native in Washington, but local authorities say it is not). I’ve known it as a showy garden plant and have seen and photographed it in gardens in several states. There are many named cultivars with varying flower and foliage hues. All the photos here are from our Bellingham garden.
In our garden we have three cultivars that bloom at slightly different times and with different color blossoms. They all came with the house when we moved here so I don’t know the names of the varieties we have. Right now, the one with deep magenta blossoms and somewhat darker foliage is in full bloom. That’s the one my friend noted and that added a nice fragrance to our patio gathering. The white phlox in the photo below is in bud right now and will likely be in bloom in a couple of weeks.
Garden phlox is a vigorous perennial that grows best in full sun or light shade. It needs a fair amount of water and can be susceptible to powdery mildew when drought stressed. But give it the right conditions and it’s a show stopper. You’ll want to be careful where you plant it, as it’s also a rhizomatous spreader that can take over a space in a few years, potentially crowding out smaller and less vigorous plants. It’s fairly easy to keep in check by digging up pieces of the roots in the spring as it’s just starting to come up. You can share your extras with your friends or spread it around to other places in your garden.
Later in the summer the pink and white cultivars we have will come into bloom. I’ve seen hummingbirds go to the flowers on the plants outside our kitchen window. Garden phlox also makes a nice cut flower for your indoor arrangements. It’s readily available in the nursery trade. In the photo below, the stem has fallen into the branches of a ‘Bump’s Blue’ mountain hemlock.
