If you want to have a colorful bright flowerbed, you can plant perennial phlox, planting and caring for them do not cause trouble. Fire flowers, as they are called, possess unpretentiousness, winter hardiness, they are able to grow under any illumination and on different soils. They stand in a cut shape for a long time and decorate the room.
Varieties of perennial phloxes
Bright and elegant phloxes abundantly blossom luxuriant whiskers, consisting of a mass of five-petalled coronals, have a wonderful aroma. There are more than 50 types of culture - low and tall with a variety of colors from white to purple and crimson. The most famous among the phloxes are perennial varieties for self-care:
- Phloxes are undersized perennials. Evergreen plants with flowers of white, pink, lilac, bluish color. Height - 5-40 cm depending on the species. In the autumn-winter period, the culture resembles a moss cover. From May, budding begins and the bushes turn into a solid bright color spot. The famous varieties are Douglas, Northern.
- Phloxes groundcover perennial. The plant is creeping, reaching a size of 15-20 cm. Its shoots strongly branch, outwardly resemble a living carpet. Inflorescences appear in May, they are umbelliform pink, red or purple.
- Phloxes are subulate long-term. The species has a short stalk of 10-15 cm, on which small inflorescences are formed in May from tender-lilac or purple-pink corollas. The stems branch, cover the earth with a carpet.
- Phlox is perennial. The species has a height of 40 cm to 1 m. The variety is characterized by acicular leaves, fragrant large inflorescences of different colors - white, pale or succulent pink, purple, lilac. There are hybrids with petals with multicolored dashes, a buttery appearance pleases with buds in August.
- Phlox terry perennial. The variety is rare, the bush grows to 60 cm. Received the name for fluffy flowers, consisting of petals, located in several tiers. Color - milk, pink, all the tones of red.
- Mini phloxes are perennial . The bush is compact, with low stems growing to 30 cm. The variety is characterized by small luxuriant inflorescences with buds from white to violet.
How to plant perennial phlox?
When breeding perennial phlox, planting can be carried out in any soil, but they grow better on light loamy soils with a neutral or slightly acidic reaction. The place for the flower bed needs illuminated, sublime, without stagnation of moisture. For phlox perennials, planting and care of which are planned for the spring, the soil is prepared from autumn. The site is dug, cleared of old rhizomes, lime is added to the acidic soil (200 g per m 2 ). It is better to plant dark flowers interspersed with light flowers in order to advantageously shade them. Grow phloxes can be seed and vegetative method.
How to plant a long-term phlox seed?
Planting material is harvested in autumn until the foliage withers. Sign of maturation of the boxes is a dense structure of brown-green color, crackling when pressed. How to grow phloxes perennial from seeds:
- The seeds are laid directly after harvesting in the open ground. On the surface of the earth, seeds are spread out with a distance of 5 cm, deepen them by 1 cm and sprinkle with earth.
- You can sow the seeds in a container, keep indoors and grow seedlings. For this, the seeds are preliminarily subjected to stratification - the container with sowing is kept for 2 weeks in the refrigerator. Then put in a warm place not below + 12 ° C. To get a strong perennial phlox, planting and care of seedlings are the uniformity of lighting, regular watering, shelter, condensate removal, picking . Landing in the ground produces when 4-6 leaves appear.
- The seed method of planting allows one to obtain strong specimens, but their flowers may lose varietal traits.
How to plant phloxes perennial tubers?
Decorative phloxes in one place grow up to 15 years, you can plant them and vegetatively along with the roots. For this, the bush is divided into parts every 4-7 years. Flowers phloxes are perennial - competent planting of plant parts:
- bush dig up, removed, shoots shortened to 15 cm;
- roots of the knife are divided into parts with 2-5 buds for growth;
- in the prepared pits add a half-bucket of compost, a handful of wood ash, all mixed with the ground;
- the well is flooded with water, a portion of the bush is placed, sprinkled to cover the buds of growth by 3-5 cm. After ramming, lay a layer of compost and press again;
- from above cover with mulch - peat, foliage for a thickness of 10 cm.
When to plant perennial phlox?
The most favorable time for vegetative rooting of flowers is early spring (late April or early May), since planting perennial phlox in open ground can be done when soil is thawed. Then the plant grows faster, less sick, blossoms this year. Autumn planting is allowed in late August or early September. Then the stems should be shortened by a third of the length for better rooting of the culture, and the bush for winter should be sprinkled with mulch. Planting seeds in the ground spend from September to November. They will start to rise after the melting of snow.
Cultivation of perennial phlox
To get on the site lush phloxes perennial, planting and care are in the loosening of the land, watering, fertilizing, cropping. After each moistening, the soil is loosened to a shallow depth, so as not to damage the roots, which lie 3-4 cm from the surface. Phloxes are a winter-hardy perennial plant, but for a frost period it is safer to cover them with peat, sawdust, especially if they are recently planted. In the absence of snow and temperatures below -25 ° C without shelter, their roots may die.
Feeding perennial phlox
Since the appearance of the first kidney and during the vegetative period, phloxes require care in the form of feeding. Fertilize them every week to achieve lush flowering and powerful leaf cover:
- In the second decade of May, they are given liquid limited-mineral water: 10 liters of water are put in 1 liter of liquid mullein or chicken manure, 20-25 grams of ammonium nitrate, 15-20 grams of phosphorus and potassium fertilizers. Such a volume of the composition is enough for 1.5-2 m 2 of landings.
- At the end of May - beginning of June, the concentration of fertilizers increases - potassium-phosphorous elements are added to 30 g.
- Deciding how to feed perennial phlox in June, you need to know that at this time the amount of phosphorus in the solution is increased to 70-80 g per 10 liters of water, 50 grams of potassium are put, nitrate and organic add no longer needed.
- From the second half of August, the flowers stop fertilizing.
How to water phlox?
When asked how often to water phlox, experienced flower growers are advised to perform the procedure on hot days in the absence of rains twice a day in moderation. Soil on the flowerbed should be constantly wet. Flowers are equally unimportant as superfluous sputum soil, and drought. Watering is carried out in the evening, under the root, without getting on the leaves. The ground is mulched to retain moisture by a layer of 5 cm from peat or humus.
How to pinch perennial phloxes?
At cultivation at beginners there is a dilemma - whether it is necessary to pinch phloxes perennial. Experienced gardeners are advised to conduct such a procedure to grow a lush bush. Pinched part of the stems do in May. Such withdrawal postpones the flowering stage for up to a month, but extends it for 4-5 weeks. On the pinched stem another 2-3 shoots sprout, each of them is decorated with smaller inflorescences, but together they have a beautiful appearance.
Diseases of perennial phlox
Fire flowers are sometimes attacked by harmful insects and diseases. Diseases of phloxes of perennial:
- Powdery mildew and blotchiness. Symptoms of the disease - grayish points and clearings on the leaves, the plates wrinkle and fall off. Care is to prune the affected stems, spraying the plant with a Bordeaux mixture.
- Attacks of filamentous worms, nematodes. The method of treatment is the only one - the elimination of the bush along with the earth's clod and the cultivation of the soil with lime. To avoid adversity, you do not need to plant plants on the sites where strawberries grew. Such neighbors as calendula, marigolds will protect the culture from parasites.
You can not wait for the appearance of signs of dangerous diseases, it is better to water the stems for prevention. In October, under winter, the culture should be treated with a solution of copper sulfate (1%) or Bordeaux mixture. In the spring and summer, the following care is useful: at least two times do medical and protective spraying with insecticides - Kinmiks, Fury, Karate, Sumi-Alpha, Fundazol.