2024 Author: Gavin MacAdam | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 13:38
Phlox hairy (lat. Phlox pilosa) - flowering decorative culture; a representative of the genus Phlox of the Sinyukhovye family. Belongs to the group of low-growing bush species. In nature, it grows on the prairie. Homeland - North America. The plant is found in Texas, Arkansas, Florida, New Jersey, and other states in the United States. A rare variety in Russia. It is rarely used in landscaping, although it has a lot of advantages.
Characteristics of culture
Hairy phlox is represented by plants with a height of about 60-70 cm (in culture they do not exceed 50 cm) with thin, pubescent, straight or ascending, weakly branching stems. Foliage is oval or elongated-oval, pubescent, glandular or smooth, pointed at the tips, with a wedge-shaped or oval base, up to 10-13 cm long, up to 1-1, 3 cm wide. Flowers are small, fragrant, numerous, purple, lavender, pink, white or fuction-colored, often with a dark eye, sitting on short pedicels, collected in loose semi-umbellate inflorescences forming large compact panicles.
The calyx of flowers is equipped with narrow, densely hairy, subulate teeth. Corolla hairy or glandular, narrow, funnel-shaped, often with a curved tube, the length of which varies from 0.5 to 2 cm, has a saucer-shaped limb. Corolla lobes are entire, obtuse at the ends, obovate or ovate-lanceolate. Hairy phlox blooms in late May - mid (late) June. Frost-resistant species, tolerates frosts down to -30C. Differs in high drought-resistant properties. Suitable for creating landscape compositions, mixborders, lawn groups, rocky gardens.
The subtleties of growing
Phloxes are adherents of nutritious, moderately moist, air and permeable, light loamy, neutral or slightly acidic soils. They can also grow on other soils, but in this case it is useless to wait for abundant flowering and active growth, the plants will feel defective. The hairy phlox, like other members of the genus, has a negative attitude towards drought, even a short one. With insufficient watering, the plants lose their decorative effect, foliage and flowers become faded, the duration of flowering is reduced by 2-3 times.
Watering is recommended regularly. For watering, you should use settled warm water, cold water kills plants. From leaving, phlox also require additional feeding, the first is carried out in early spring (you can directly on the melting snow), the second - after flowering. The second feeding is required, the flowering of the next year depends on it. In spring, the plants are fed with nitrogen fertilizers, the granules are scattered over the snow or over wet soil. In mid-May, a liquid infusion of mullein is introduced under phlox, you can replace it with ammonium nitrate. During the second feeding, potassium sulfate and nitrogen fertilizers are applied (half as much as in spring). In general, the amount of fertilizer used depends solely on the fertility of the soil on the site.
It should be noted that the third feeding will not harm the hairy phlox, it will be the final stage in preparation for winter. For these purposes, phosphorus fertilizers are perfect, for example, superphosphate, it can be scattered around the bushes and slightly embedded in the soil at the same time as loosening. Loosening, by the way, is no less important procedure for most phloxes, because this culture loves loose soils, compaction greatly affects their health. In late September - early October, it is important to prune phlox. You can use a trimmer or garden shears to do this. Also, preventive treatment of soil and plants with fungicides is not prohibited.
The hairy phlox does not need shelter, since it calmly tolerates frosts down to -30C, however, with a sufficient layer of snow. If a cold and snowless winter is expected, the plants are covered with a dense layer of fallen leaves or rotted horse manure, the latter will serve not only as protection from the cold, but also as a fertilizer. In the spring, the shelter is removed, otherwise the stems will begin to rot and rot, which in no case should be allowed. If the shelter is carried out with manure, then part of it can be left on the soil, thoroughly loosened.
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