Phlox paniculata

Under the Arbor is the column I write for the Gene Stratton-Porter Memorial Society's newsletter. Here is the latest article on phlox.

Enjoy the sweet perfume of clusters of white, pink or purple blossoms as you stroll through the western beds of the tame garden from mid-summer through fall. You may notice a tiger swallowtail or hummingbird on one of the blossoms. What is that plant? It is a native plant, an heirloom plant, and one of Gene’s original plants in her Tame Garden. It is Phlox paniculata, commonly called garden phlox, summer phlox, fall phlox or tall phlox, and its popularity in modern gardens is increasing.

Native Plant

There are more than sixty species of phlox. All are North American natives except one found in Siberia. The wild form of Phlox paniculata is native from New York to Georgia and west to Arkansas and Illinois. It occurs on rich, moist soils along stream banks and in open woods. The great naturalist and plant explorer John Bartram sent Phlox paniculata to England in the early 1700s. Their showy, fragrant flowers quickly became a hit throughout Europe and by the mid 1800s they were available in the nursery trade. They didn't re-cross the Atlantic until Victorian times.

Heirloom Plant

The native phlox, bred in England for a wide range of flower colors, improved habit, and increased resistance to diseases, quickly became a favorite garden plant in its native land and you can find it in many old gardens. (See picture of Gene’s garden.) It also held the romantic meaning of "our souls are united."

Pollinators

The interdependence between plants and pollinators, such as butterflies, moths, bees and hummingbirds, is mutually beneficial. A pollinated plant is able to reproduce and the pollinator has a food source. Phlox paniculata is a nectar source for the black swallowtail and zebra swallowtail, but its lure isn’t restricted to daytime pollinators. A Hawkmoth may hover next to its blossoms from late afternoon to dusk; in fact, phlox is listed as an adult nectar source. In the evening, as the sweet scent of phlox drifts across the garden, night moths may be drawn to the flowers, especially those with white blossoms.

Phlox in Your Garden

Phlox paniculata provides great garden color and fragrance from July through September, filling that gap between the bounty of the early summer bloomers and the fall bloomers. It is often called "the backbone of the summer border" by landscape designers. It can be used in a formal garden, a cottage garden or in a naturalized design.

Phlox are excellent cut flowers with a long vase life. Many of the smaller cultivars make nice container or patio pots.

There are hundreds of cultivars hybridized and selected for flower color, size and fragrance. The plant height when blooming varies widely by the cultivar and ranges from 15 to 48 inches.

Phlox paniculata is not a perfect plant. Powdery mildew is often a problem. The mildew can be reduced if you plant so there is good air circulation, if the plants are not crowded, and if you water in the early morning so the foliage can dry. Many new cultivars claim resistance to powdery mildew, but several studies have shown some heirloom cultivars have better resistance.

We often have Phlox paniculata for sale on the plant rack near the Carriage House. Why don’t you take one of “Gene’s plants” home and try it in your garden?

Ohio Buckeye

One of the first trees to leaf out at GSP is the Ohio Buckeye, Aesculus glabra. The leaves are a beautiful maroon color!

Photo taken on 4/9/09

Scilla in a Sea of Star of Bethlehem

Scilla awash in Star of Bethlehem, Ornithogalum umbellatum, foliage.

Photo taken 4/8/09.

Scilla on Waterleaf

A Scilla, Scilla siberica, blossom on Large-Leaved Waterleaf, Hydrophyllum macrophyllum.

Photo taken 4/8/09.

Cornelian Cherry behind Garden Shed

Here's a full-length shot of the Cornelian Cherry, Cornus mascula, in full bloom.

Photo taken 4/8/09.

Cornelian Cherry

The cornelian cherry, Cornus mascula, is in full bloom, awaiting the warm weather and pollinators.

Photo taken 4/8/09

Hepatica by Lake Sylvan

Two days after several inches of snow and an evening dipping into the mid 20's, many of round-lobed hepatica, Hepatica nobilis, were in bloom.

Photo taken 4/8/09

Japanese Lilac

The Japanese lilac is in bloom and is wafting its sweet scent across the eastern garden beds. Gene planted this tree sometime in the 1910s. It has three trunk branches but perhaps because of the extremely cold weather in April, only one branch bloomed this year. Its listed as having a height of 15-20' and a width of 12-15'. Does anyone want to measure this tree to see if it breaks a record. (The largest tree in North Dakota is 45 feet tall with a canopy spread of 39 feet.)

aka Cow Slobber

One of the first flowers Gene planted when she bought Wildflower Woods in the fall of 1912 was spiderwort, tradescantia. The spiderworts are in bloom now and will continue throughout the summer. They are mostly blue, but we have several plants with magenta blooms. We are in the process of potting up some young plants for sale, in case you want to add this lovely prairie plant to your garden (or prairie!)

Walnut lighning rods

Ed, the site's naturalist, saw lightning strike a tree near the crypt early this spring. He went to investigate and found a walnut tree with foam down one side. The spittle was 3" to 6" wide in spots, but the bark was perfectly dry in the center of the foam. At the base of the tree, there were a couple of gallons of foam. You can still see the remnants of the strike, the light discoloration in this photo.
In April, lightning struck another walnut near the crypt. Ed found it on his morning tour of the grounds, first spotting blown-off pieces of bark and chunks of a bat box on the ground. When he looked up, he saw strips of bark hanging from the tree. The damage is still evident.

I will save the full story of the how Gene and her daughter came to be buried on the grounds in 1999, but it was Gene's wish to be buried here under her favorite tree, a chinkapin oak (Quercus muehlenbergii). It was a mature tree in the 1910's and based on a drilling some years ago, we know that the chinkapin oak is over 200 years old. It is notoriously difficult to propagate and we are on the extreme northern edge of its range. It is one of the natural and historic treasures on the site.

Chinkapin oaks grow to heights of 60' to 80'. Walnuts grow to heights of up to 150' in the best sites in Indiana. Thank goodness we have walnut lightning rods around the crypt. In this picture, the chinkapin is on the right, the first walnut tree struck is in the center with the crypt barely visible behind it, and the last one struck is on the right.

It's an early spring

These may look like dandelions at first glance, but where is the foliage? It is Tussilago fargara or coltsfoot. Another common name is son-before-father, because the flower blooms before the leaves emerge. Because the tuberous stems can go as far as ten feet underground and seeds are spread on "parachutes" like dandelions, it is considered invasive in some areas.

As I walked under the Cornelian Cherry behind the Garden Shed, I heard a loud buzzing. Hundreds of tiny bees were busy pollinating this cloud of yellow flowers. This tree, Cornus mas, was originally planted by Gene and is actually in the dogwood family, not cherry family. It was mentioned by Homer using the name krania.

It is very early to see the cut-leaved toothwort in bloom. Next week the floor of the woods will be covered with the blooms of this spring ephemeral.


The hepatica in the Wildflower Bed of the Tame Garden is also in bloom. Of these four flowers, it is my favorite.