2024 Author: Gavin MacAdam | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 13:38
Perhaps not a single suburban area is complete without phlox. Many varieties, differing in color and pattern of flowers, shape of inflorescences and subtlety of aroma, height and splendor of the bush, allow any gardener to choose specimens to their liking. Long and abundant flowering, long-lasting freshness of a bouquet of cut plants, pleasant and persistent scent will conquer forever. Successful cultivation will be helped by knowing some points of phlox care
Spring chores
Phlox are perennial plants. In order to wake them up early in the spring, wanting to enjoy their bloom early, you can cover a flower garden with phlox with a transparent film at the beginning of April. Under it, the soil warms up better, the remnants of snow will melt and the shoots will begin to get out into the light.
When the shoots grow a little, the film should be replaced with an opaque covering material until warm weather sets in.
Mulching
Having carried out the first weeding, we feed the plant with complex mineral fertilizer, combining top dressing with the next watering. The next morning, we loosen the soil, collect the prepared humus and peat in a bucket and mulch the surface of the flower garden. If such mulch is strengthened with corrugated moistened cardboard, then you can forget about loosening and weeding for two years. The presence of cardboard on the soil will not spoil the appearance of the flower garden, since the grown phloxes close their lush leafy bushes so tightly that the cardboard cannot be seen through them.
Landing new acquisitions
If you decide to expand the range of already growing phloxes, do not rush to plant the acquisition immediately in a permanent place. Watch him one summer by planting him in a special school bed, created for experiments and growing plants.
When purchasing a cut, and not a rooted cutting, first of all we dilute potassium permanganate in water to a deep pink color and dip the purchase in a solution for half an hour, so that in the future we do not have to wage a war against fungal diseases.
Bush formation
The distance between the bushes when planting depends on the height of a particular variety and ranges from 50 to 80 centimeters.
The splendor of the bush depends on the number of shoots, which should be controlled and regulated depending on the goals set.
If you plan to make bouquets of phlox to decorate your home or present a gift to family and friends, or start propagating a plant using cuttings, then you should leave as many shoots as possible.
In this case, only weak shoots should be removed, and late shoots, which the approaching cold will no longer give a chance to show the world the inflorescences.
Flowering duration
To extend the flowering period, remove the wilting upper inflorescences. Then the inflorescences of lateral shoots will give a second wave of fragrant flowering, however, their sizes will be much more modest.
Until the seeds are fully ripe
Some growers believe that if phloxes manage to go from germination to seed ripening during the summer period, then the plant's renewal buds are laid more viable and strong, and the whole plant becomes more hardy, surviving the winter cold more easily.
To help the plant reach the fruiting stage, only one stem with an inflorescence is left in the bush, removing all lateral shoots.
Autumn care
When frosty weather sets in, the aboveground parts of the plant are cut to the very root, leaving no stumps on the soil surface.
In recent years, we have to wait a long time for the first snow, although the air temperature drops below zero. In such a situation, the buds of phlox renewal may suffer from frost. To protect the plant, cover the soil with foliage on top of the mulch.
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