Phlox - a Variety of Plants for the Flower Garden

According to Claire Hagen Dole, "The genus name, Phlox, is derived from the Greek word for flame. Phlox is sometimes called flame flower because of its intense, hot colors." Gardeners most often use purple in Southwest Tennessee. Here phlox comes in shades of red, blue, purple and white. The flowers are always beautiful and pop out from the rest of the landscape.

The primary thing that connects different varieties of phlox is a combination of flower traits as explained in Polemoniaceae by Leigh Johnson:

"These identifying features are: five sepals, five fused petals, five stamens that alternate with the corolla lobes, and an ovary of three fused carpels. Stamens may be superficially connected to the corolla in some lineages, but are fused completely into the corolla tube in most species. The three-parted ovary, in combination with the other floral features, is key."

Otherwise, the plants may look very different from each other. Some of the plants make good groundcovers in a garden. Some are tall garden plants. Some are wildflowers. The shapes and sizes of their leaves often seem oddly different. The plants described here are ones that grow well in USDA Plant Hardiness Map Zone 7, Southwest Tennessee.

Phlox attract butterflies, bees and sometimes hummingbirds to gardens. White varieties, as with any night garden, are especially good for attracting night pollinators such as moths.

Moss Phlox or Creeping Phlox

Moss phlox or creeping phlox starts blooming with the first warmth of late winter in Southwest Tennessee. The plant forms a solid carpet-like mat of mossy leaves where it grows. The flowers cover the leaves usually in a shade of purple. Other colors include a white and a blue variety. Moss phlox is a perennial best planted alone. Once established in the garden it grows well, but cannot survive long around intrusive plants. It spreads easily to cleared soil by roots that grow along its stems. Once the flowers fade, the evergreen mat of leaves remains year round.

Garden Phlox (Phlox paniculata)

Garden phlox or summer phlox is a perennial that grows up to 36 inches tall. This phlox needs to be in a sunny location in the garden because some varieties have a tendency to mildew. Gardeners can use this perennial in formal gardens, informal gardens, in cottage gardens or in naturalized settings. The plants show off most of their flowers in bunches at the top of their long stems. The plants need to be in well-drained soil, but the bottom leaves tend to turn brown if the ground remains dry for a long time. In the late fall or winter the stems can be cut down to the ground. The garden phlox will reappear next year to put on its colorful show of flowers.

Woodland Phlox or Sweet Williams (Phlox divaricata)

Woodland phlox are wildflowers that grow around wooded areas in various parts of the United States. They are perennials that bloom around late spring or early summer and virtually disappear after their flowers have faded. Their leaves remain until frost, but are very hard to find on the woodland ground. Woodland phlox require little or no maintenance and spread freely under the right conditions. They prefer the humus-rich (created by the leaves of deciduous trees) moist well-drained soil under the shade of large deciduous trees. Sweet Williams are most often a bluish purple color.

There are many more varieties of phlox, but these are the ones most commonly found in the Mid-South, which includes Southwest Tennessee. Various other kinds of wild phlox are native to the Western United States and there is an annual phlox native to Texas.
References:

Dole, Claire Hagen. 2000. Phlox: A butterfly and Moth Magnet. Butterfly Gardeners Quarterly A Newsletter for Gardeners and Butterfly Enthusiasts.

Johnson, Leigh. 2004. Polemoniaceae. Phlox Family. Version 25 April 2004. in The Tree of Life Web Project.