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Fourteen Favorites Among the Perennials: Phlox
Hardy Phlox There are many types and varieties of hardy phlox, the three most useful kinds for the perennial garden being the wild sweet-william (known as Phlox divaricata), Phlox suffruticosa, and Phlox paniculata or decussata. Phlox divaricata blooms in May and is a delightful companion for the Darwin tulips and the columbines. It grows wild in many sections of the country and one sometimes sees wooded hillsides covered with its delicate lavender flowers. Although of creeping habit, its blossoms are borne on erect, leafy stems about a foot in height. Its foliage is pleasing, a deep cool green, and its loose, graceful flowers are softly tinted. Although preferring a semishaded position and deep woody soil, being particularly at home in the wild garden, it adapts itself happily to a position in an open border in full sun. The plants are usually propagated from cuttings, which are made immediately after the flowering season.
Phlox divaricata laphami is a recent variety, which is considered an improvement over the wild type. Alba is a white variety which is as yet little known.
Phlox suffruticosa is similar to Phlox paniculata, blooming somewhat earlier and bearing foliage of a smooth, glossy texture, which is remarkably free from disease. It flowers usually by late June and is a herald of all the beauty of the midsummer varieties. Miss Lingard is the best-known variety in this group and deserves a place in every garden. The large fragrant heads of pure white flowers are considered by many gardeners the best of all the phlox. Phlox paniculata or decussata. It is this group which is the mainstay of the midsummer garden; without its many varieties we should find it difficult to keep the perennial borders colorful and gay throughout the season. It may be had in a great variety of hues-white, pink, rose, crimson, mauve, and lavender.
Mrs. Jenkins is one of the best of the white varieties. It is generous with its blooms and bears large flower-heads of purest white. Elizabeth Campbell is a brilliant salmon-pink in color with slightly deeper shadings toward the centre.
Maid Marion is a recent variety with large pale lavender flowers borne in great profusion.
These members of the hardy phlox family are of easy culture. Although they will survive considerable neglect, they are appreciative of anything that is done for their welfare. They have a great fondness for animal manure and can stand liberal feeding. For happy, healthy plants and for large blooms they should be planted in rich soil and should be kept well cultivated. They require liberal watering during the flowering season and if the fading blooms are removed they will usually bloom a second time.
For the best results phlox should be divided at least every third year. If the plants are left too long undisturbed they begin to deteriorate and the crown gradually dies away. Division can be performed with a sharp spade and is a very simple operation. It may be done in early spring or in the autumn. In damp seasons phlox plants sometimes become badly affected with mildew. An occasional dusting with flowers of sulphur will usually keep this in check. Phlox plants do not revert to magenta, although there is a very general impression that they do. When magenta blooms appear where named varieties of white or pink or lavender were originally planted, they may be attributed to self-sown seedlings. They do not come from the crown of the original plant, although it is sometimes almost impossible to believe that they do not, so closely have the little seedlings wedged themselves in. ROSES Deep in every true gardener's heart is a love for roses. In order to enjoy their beauty to the utmost one should have a garden or at least special beds and borders devoted exclusively to them, where one can cater to all their whims and fancies and can minister to their every need. It cannot be denied that a real rose garden is something which requires infinite patience and labor if one is to bring one's flowers to perfection. The preparation of the beds in the very beginning must be done with care and thoroughness and as the seasons come and go one must conscientiously continue the routine of pruning and cultivating, of feeding and spraying, of disbudding and watering. The space allotted to the rose beds need not be large, however, in order to yield a full measure of joy and delight. A small bed containing a dozen carefully chosen Hybrid Tea roses can be a source of pleasure and pride throughout the season.
It might well be said that there is a rose for every place and purpose, and that no one need go a-hungering for their loveliness. Where time and space do not permit one to delve deeply into the art of rose growing, one may at least enjoy the beauty of some of the hardy climbers or some of the lovely brier roses which require a minimum of care and attention. For the simple cottage dooryard one would choose a Rosa hugonis or an Austrian Brier rose, which requires no more care than do most of our common shrubs and which with myriad golden blooms lends a delightfully bright and welcome note to any planting. For the windswept seaside garden one would choose the Rugosa roses or some of their many hybrids which are hardy and vigorous enough to withstand the buffeting of bleak wintry gales. For the simple summer cottage among the hillside pastures of New England one would choose to plant some to the lovely wild-rose species, unless Nature has already brought them to one's door.
Classes and Varieties To most amateur gardeners the intricate and elaborate classifications of roses are very confusing, and unless one intends to go into rose growing on rather an extensive scale it will usually suffice if one becomes familiar with a few of the more important groups.