This story happened a very long time ago. A tired traveler walked through a rare forest in search of a haven where he could rest and spend the night. Climbing a low hill, he noticed a gap among the trees and headed there, leaning on a heavy stick. It's getting dark. The sky turned a sunset blush, and cool air blew in the air. The traveler finally reached the edge of the forest, spread the branches of a dense shrub with his hands, and froze ... His admiring gaze revealed a large overgrown meadow.
- This is the “flame” - φλόξ! - the man exclaimed in Greek. He looked at the bright pink low flowers, shimmering fiery shades in the rays of the setting sun. All the land was carefully covered with a soft floral carpet ...
The next morning, our traveler began to explore his unexpected treasure, muttering to himself under his breath:
- Well, well, Carl, you found a creeping plant unknown to science and even managed to accidentally give it a name - phlox. This, of course, is commendable, but let's take a soil sample and some flowers for study. In addition, my wife loves to plant unusual vegetation in the garden and she definitely needs to present this small gift. So, let's see what we have here ?! The inflorescences are very small, about one inch in diameter. The shades of the petals are very different: white, pink, blue, violet and purple.
Phlox awl-like 'Amazing Grace'
Phlox awl-shaped 'Purple Beauty'
Phlox awl-shaped "Emerald Blue"
Narrow leaves with pointed tips look like an awl. The soil is loose and dry, and the root system of the plant is superficial, which means that the flower does not like severe drought and moist soil ...
Phlox awl-shaped "Thumbelina"
Phlox awl-shaped 'Candy Stripe'
Talking quietly to himself, the traveler dug up a small layer of earth, covered with delicate flowers, from the edge of the meadow, carefully laid it in a bag and hastened on the return trip ...
Phlox awl
On this, our story about the discovery of phlox is interrupted.
And now we’ll magically go through centuries and see how this amazing flower is used in modern landscape gardening.
Designers around the world are very fond of including this plant in their floral arrangements due to the awl-shaped phlox being unpretentious and able to grow quickly on rocky or sandy ground.
What just do not decorate with these babies:
- flowerbeds and mixborders;
- borders and rabatki along garden paths;
- Alpine hills and rockeries;
- "flower" streams and sculptures.
Despite the fact that phloxes bloom violently in late spring, it is quite possible that they bloom again in August. But even after their wilting, these amazing “moss cloves” look very decorative, thanks to thin emerald-green leaves that remain until the snow.
From the author of the article: the story about the traveler is completely fictional and is dedicated to the Swedish biologist, physician and natural scientist Karl Linnaeus, who gave the name to the flower in 1737. But about the use in landscape design of the hero of my story - awl-shaped phlox, I told the truth and only the truth!
