• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer
Home Garden Joy
  • Home
  • Blog
  • Gardening Basics
    • Seed Starting
    • Composting Basics
    • Vegetable Gardening
    • Growing Fruit
    • Growing Herbs
  • Recipes
    • Canning and Food Preservation
    • Vegetarian Meals
    • Salad Recipes
    • Soup Recipes
    • Dinner Recipes
    • Dessert Recipes
  • Books & Classes
    • Classes
    • Books
    • Books for Christian Herbalists
  • About
    • Writer Jeanne Grunert
    • Advertise
    • Awards and Accolades
    • Privacy Policy

Fountains of Phlox

April 5, 2010 by Jeanne

Fountains of phlox flow everywhere at this time of year. As you drive the back roads in Virginia, neighbors have planted phlox along embankments, by mailboxes, and along slopes too steep to cut with the riding mower or tractor. You’ll be driving along, turn the corner, and like a trumpet blast, there’s a river of bright pink or magenta careening over the rocks on an embankment. Set against blooming white dogwoods, a native tree here that flowers at the same time, and spires of tall white flowering pears, it’s like an artist took a brush and just slashed the landscape with color.

We planted phlox along the front walk, grouped in front of the azaleas, and a few in the flower garden. Now that we know they love it here and the garden ones spread out, we bought another 10 this weekend. I added them to the steep slope in the flower garden that grows dandelions and nothing else. Hopefully by next year, we’ll see the start of our own rivers and fountains of phlox!

Phlox is amazing. It’s hardy. It spreads out, and where it grows, weeds dare not follow. Occasionally the deer will chomp the flowers off, but they leave the plants, and the plants send forth new flowers in defiance. Add some rocks or plant them among rocky outcrops in your garden and you’ve got an automatic flower garden. I never water them, fertilize them or do anything other than admire them. How much better does a plant get than this?

 

Jeanne
Jeanne

Jeanne Grunert is a certified Virginia Master Gardener and the author of several gardening books. Her garden articles, photographs, and interviews have been featured in The Herb Companion, Virginia Gardener, and Cultivate, the magazine of the National Farm Bureau. She is the founder of The Christian Herbalists group and a popular local lecturer on culinary herbs and herbs for health, raised bed gardening, and horticulture therapy.

Tweet
Share
Pin
Share
0 Shares

Filed Under: Uncategorized

Follow me on social media

Like
Follow
Follow
Follow
Follow
Previous Post: « Orchard Blooms
Next Post: Daffodils in the Orchard »

Primary Sidebar

Let’s Connect!

  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Pinterest
  • RSS
  • YouTube

Featured

logo of the american horticulture society

Home Garden Joy was featured by the American Horticultural Society on #plantchat.

Writer Jeanne Grunert

cover of plan and build a raised bed garden

Find all my books on Amazon.com

Gardening Articles

red celosia flowers in the garden

How to Save Flower Seeds

savory on a wooden table

How to Grow Summer Savory

a watering can next to a seed tray on a sidewalk

What Veggies Can I Plant Now?

heirloom tomato

A Review of the CharGuy Long-Sleeve Gardening Gloves

Footer

a white bowl filled with vegan creamy cauliflower soup made with orange cauliflower

Vegan Creamy Cauliflower Soup

This recipe for vegan creamy cauliflower soup offers a tasty, filling comfort food for cold winter’s nights – all without any animal products. The secret to its amazing taste is a combination of dried summer savory and parsley stirred liberally into the simmering vegetables. Here’s the full recipe and instructions for my vegan creamy cauliflower…

Read More

a close up of a pink Christmas cactus flower on a wooden table

Schlumbergera x buckleyi – Christmas Cactus

Schlumbergera x buckleyi – Christmas cactus. So many people love these plants, but so many people also don’t know how to take care of them. Now, part of that is the name – Christmas cactus. Unfortunately, whoever discovered them in the rain forests thought they were cacti, and so they received this unfortunate designation. In…

Read More

red celosia flowers in the garden

How to Save Flower Seeds

Would you like to learn how to save flower seeds? Saving your own flower seeds means you’ll have your favorite seeds ready to plant next spring. Here’s a short, easy tutorial on how to save flower seeds from your garden. Simple Steps – How to Save Flower Seeds Fall is the best time to save…

Read More

savory on a wooden table

How to Grow Summer Savory

You can grow summer savory in pots, containers, window boxes, or raised bed gardens. Summer savory (Satureja hortensis) or winter savory (Satureja montana) from seed is easy, but what is this herb, what does summer savory taste like, and how do you use it? What Is Summer Savory? Summer savory is a culinary herb. It…

Read More

Copyright © 2023 Home Garden Joy on the Foodie Pro Theme