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Perennial ground cover phloxes are highly valued by summer residents and gardeners for their good decorative properties. The plant is represented by many varieties, it is interesting to study the most popular of them.
Benefits of Growing Creeping Phlox
Creeping phlox is often used to decorate the landscape due to several advantages:
- Ornamental perennial plant forms a very beautiful soil cover.
- The ground cover culture feels great on scarce soil.
- Perennial grows not only in horizontal areas, but also on slopes.
- The ground cover phlox blooms early and enters the time of full decorativeness already in May or June, one of the first.
- Many types of perennial ground cover phlox retain bright green leaves even in winter.
Creeping phlox blooms in late spring
The perennial does not impose strict requirements for care and lends itself very well to reproduction.
Types and varieties of perennial ground cover phlox
The groundcover perennial is represented by dozens of varieties with different shades of flowering and stem height. Among the known varieties, several can be listed.
Phlox forked
This species is able to rise up to 15 cm above the ground. Its stems are hard and slightly pubescent, elongated thin leaves reach 5 cm in length. The plant can bloom, depending on the variety, with white, lilac and purple flowers.
The forked phlox has very unusual petals.
Phlox Douglas
It grows naturally on stony soils and in rocks, forming bright white or purple carpets. The leaves of Phlox Douglas are small, no more than 2 cm, and a dark eye is located in the core of the flowers. Phlox Douglas rises to a height of 12 cm, usually blooms at the end of May.
Phlox Douglas loves rocky areas
Phlox spread out
The splayed perennial phlox is able to grow up to 30 cm. Its stems spread along the ground, but form rising shoots. Small flowers resemble straightened shields.
Scattered view – a fairly tall groundcover
Candy Stripes
The variety of groundcover phlox is distinguished by an unusual color – its flowers are white, but with a wide pink stripe in the center of each petal. Candy Stripes rises only 10 cm above the soil, the flowers are small in diameter, about 2 cm. Blooms profusely and luxuriantly in May.
Candy Stripes – a variety with two-color petals
Bayern
Bavaria brings in May-June white flowers with a dark purple core. It rises 15 cm above the ground, subulate thin leaves retain their decorative effect until frost. Bavaria prefers to grow in sunny areas and is characterized by increased frost resistance.
In the center of the flowers of Bavaria is a purple eye
Nettleton Variegata
A low-growing perennial capable of growing no more than 10 cm above the ground. The flowers are small, about 1,5 cm, pink. The variety attracts special attention due to the unusual color of the leaves, they are dark green, but a narrow whitish-pink border runs along the edge.
The variety Nettleton Variegata has a decorative leaf color.
Atropurpura
The ground cover variety rises about 10 cm above the ground and produces star-shaped flowers in May or June. The flowers are purplish-red in color. It is frost-resistant, tolerates drought well.
Atropurpurea has intense red blooms.
Crimson Beauty
Ground cover Crimson Beauty forms a lush carpet up to 15 cm high above the ground. The flowers of the variety are pink, with crimson strokes extending from the core. Flowering occurs in late spring.
Crimson Beauty – pink variety with a raspberry core
Tellaria
A perennial groundcover variety has awl-shaped green leaves, stems up to 12 cm in height and lilac flowers with a purple eye in the center. Flowering occurs in mid-May and lasts about a month. Phlox Tellaria loves sunlight and calmly tolerates a lack of moisture.
In the center of the lilac flowers of Tellaria there is a purple eye
Red Wings
The Red Wings variety blooms in late May and is abundantly covered with bright pink flowers with a dark red core. In height, the perennial plant rises by about 15 cm. It prefers dry soils and an abundance of sunlight, tolerates frost and drought well.
Red Wings blooms with beautiful dark pink flowers
Bonita
The groundcover phlox Bonita does not exceed 15 cm in height. It forms a very lush carpet on the surface of the earth, and at the end of May it blooms with bright pink flowers with a dark heart-shaped. It tolerates winter cold well, is undemanding to grow, even on dry soils with a lack of moisture, the perennial blooms profusely.
Bonita blooms deep pink
Siberian
This type of perennial phlox is considered rare, prone to extinction, and grows wild in Siberia. It is winter-hardy, tolerates frosts below -35 ° С. The height of the plant is about 15 cm, its leaves are elongated, about 6 cm in length.
Siberian phlox is a rare valuable perennial species
The flowers are small and solitary, white, light pink or lilac shades. It blooms in early summer and retains its decorative effect for 30 days.
Violet Pinwheels
The ground cover variety Violet Pinuils has unusual flowers – the petals have small teeth at the ends and, in general, are a bit like helicopter blades. Purple-violet in color, flowering occurs from mid-May.
Violet Pinuils – a beautiful purple variety
Violet Pinuils feels good in dry, lighted areas and forms a cover up to 15 cm tall.
Thumbelina
The perennial variety Thumbelina is prone to rapid growth, forms a green turf above the soil surface about 15 in height. Thumbelina flowers have a delicate and cold pink hue, the variety acquires its maximum decorative effect at the end of May.
Thumbelina is a very low groundcover
May snow
Maischnee is a very beautiful groundcover phlox with snow-white blooms in late spring. The flowers of the variety are wheel-shaped, up to 1,5 cm wide, the height of the plant does not exceed 15 cm. Against the background of dark greenery of other plants, it looks very bright and decorative.
Maischnee is distinguished by snow-white flowering
Lilac Cloud
The perennial variety blooms profusely in May and early June, producing brilliant purple flowers. At first it looks very bright, towards the end of flowering it begins to turn pink. Forms a beautiful carpet up to 10 cm high.
Lilac Cloud – a variety with a soft purple hue towards the end of flowering
Crackerjack
Crackerjack phlox rises no higher than 10 cm and produces star-shaped flowers in May and June. The color of the flowers is rich, purple-crimson.
Crackerjack produces bright crimson flowers
The use of creeping phlox in design
Ground cover phlox is widely used in garden design. First of all, it covers unoccupied areas of space and creates a beautiful background.
A perennial plant is used:
- as part of rocky gardens and alpine hills;
Perennial grows well on alpine slides
- for decorating borders, slopes and low hedges;
The plant gracefully decorates ledges and borders.
- for decorating the banks of small reservoirs;
Creeping perennial can grow near water
- to revitalize the space in coniferous plantings and flower beds with perennials;
Ground cover phlox can be combined with other plants
- to create bright islands on a green lawn.
Perennial revitalizes monochromatic lawn greens
Ground cover phlox look good both in the center of the composition and in the background. The unpretentiousness of plants allows them to be used in almost any area.
Features of reproduction
Ground cover phloxes of any variety are easy to propagate in the garden. Several methods can be used:
- Division of the bush – the method is suitable for adult perennial phlox, in spring or late autumn you need to dig up the plant and divide it into several separate parts.
Creeping plant easily divided by rhizome
- Layering – a very convenient way, since the shoots of perennial phlox are located close to the ground. The selected shoot should be slightly buried in the ground for the whole summer, and in the fall it will give roots.
Creeping perennial layering takes root in one season
- Cuttings. A groundcover perennial plant readily propagates by cuttings cut in early spring or summer; when rooted in spring, already in August, phlox will be suitable for planting in the ground.
Ground cover cuttings take root quickly
Planting and caring for ground cover phlox
Growing creeping phlox does not require much effort from the gardener. The main thing is to choose a good place and provide the culture with plenty of light and moderate watering.
Recommended dates
Perennial creeping phlox is planted, usually in late April or early May. Since the plant begins to bloom early, it is important to root before this point.
Site selection and soil preparation
Ground cover perennials prefer to grow in sunny, warm areas with light shade. In the bright direct sun, their petals often burn out, however, a deep shadow also harms the plants – they bloom worse.
The soil for creeping perennials is better to choose light, neutral or alkaline, loamy or sandy loam. It is important to provide plants with high-quality drainage – creeping phloxes do not like stagnant moisture. It is optimal to plant perennials on a slight elevation, but in damp lowlands, ground cover phloxes definitely will not take root.
It is recommended to plant a perennial plant in illuminated areas.
It is advisable to prepare a landing pit for phloxes in the fall. For this purpose, the selected area in the garden is dug up, the soil is fertilized with compost and humus, and then holes are arranged about 30 cm deep. The distance between them should be about 50 cm.
Landing algorithm
In the spring, after thawing the soil for perennial phloxes, a nutrient soil is prepared, consisting of leafy soil, humus and sand. At the bottom of the prepared pits, drainage from crushed stone or expanded clay is equipped. Then they fill the holes halfway with soil mixture, add a little wood ash and complex mineral fertilizers and moisten.
Before planting, the soil for phlox is watered well.
It is recommended to lower the ground cover phlox into the hole together with the existing earthen clod. It is not necessary to deepen the seedling strongly – its root system should be located close to the surface. Planted perennials are abundantly moistened, and then the ground around them is mulched with peat.
Care instructions
Caring for ground cover perennial phlox is not particularly difficult:
- It is necessary to water the culture quite often, once a week, but in small quantities so that moisture stagnation does not form. If the ground at the roots of the phlox often dries up, this will not harm it, but in the swampy soil it may die.
- Perennial phloxes are usually fed with complex mineral fertilizers in early spring. Since the culture is unpretentious, the spring application of minerals and periodic watering with the addition of wood ash will be quite enough.
- During the growing season, phloxes are recommended to be weeded from time to time. Weeds can significantly impair flowering, but it is worth noting that under a dense ground cover they appear infrequently.
A flower bed with creeping perennials should be weeded from time to time
With the onset of autumn, it is recommended to cut off the faded shoots of the ground cover perennial phlox. This will strengthen the culture’s endurance before the cold weather and will have a positive effect on the growth of young shoots in the spring. It is not necessary to cover the phlox for the winter, but you can mulch the flower bed or lawn with a dense layer of humus. Organics will insulate the roots in the ground and also nourish them with useful substances.
Diseases and pests
Ground cover phlox can suffer from fungal diseases and insects. Especially often he is struck by:
- mučnistaâ rosa – the fungus appears as a white bloom on green leaves and leads to wilting;
White coating of powdery mildew is easy to see on the leaves.
- rust – when a fungus appears on the leaves, characteristic brown spots are very noticeable, which grow rather quickly;
Rust is a dangerous ground cover crop disease.
- ring spot – on small leaves of perennial phlox, the disease manifests itself with yellowish spots, if you look closely, you can see a pattern of circles and semicircles of a light shade.
Ground cover perennial ring spot is easy to recognize
For the treatment of diseases, Bordeaux liquid, colloidal sulfur and the drug Fundazol are used. It is better to spray perennial phlox as a preventive measure – in the spring before flowering and twice more after it.
Of the pests for groundcover phlox are dangerous:
- aphid – small green insects can strongly eat leaves;
Aphids cause severe damage to a flowerbed with creeping phlox
- nematodes – these worms can usually be seen by twisting the leaves and thickening of the stems;
When infected with nematodes, the plant most often dies
- slugs – small clams eat leaves and cause serious damage.
Slugs are very dangerous for ground cover perennials, they can completely destroy the plant.
Nematodes can only be dealt with prophylactically, so diseased perennial plants are destroyed. From other pests, spraying with insecticides and dusting with wood ash helps well.
Conclusion
Perennial ground cover phloxes can turn a garden plot into a continuous flower garden at the beginning of summer. It is not difficult to take care of the culture, the perennial plant feels good on fertile and poor soils, in the sun and in light shade.
