I need a garden product that will take care of business.\u00a0 This product must do its job with only a single application, and keep the garden looking good in all seasons.\u00a0 It should also work steadily and stealthily to eradicate horticultural archfiends like chickweed and crabgrass.<\/p>\n
If I go to the garden center and describe my needs, they will try to sell me something that comes in a plastic bottle and has a multi-syllabic chemical name.\u00a0 The chemicals will last forever in the soil, and the bottle will take at least that long to degrade in a landfill.\u00a0 If, however, I look at the garden center’s plant racks, I will see my salvation: Phlox subulata, also known as moss pink.<\/p>\n
You are probably familiar with tall garden phlox or Phlox paniculata, a plant that does much to embellish the beds in mid summer.\u00a0 By contrast, moss pinks are low-growers, reaching only four to six inches in height.\u00a0 Installed en masse, the plants grow together to form a dense, evergreen, weed-intimidating mat.\u00a0 Most of the available cultivars have fine, needle-like dark green leaves.<\/p>\n
The name “phlox”\u009d comes from the Greek word for “flame”\u009d, and “subulata”\u009d comes from the Latin for “awl-shaped”\u009d, which is probably a reference to the pointed leaves.\u00a0 Unlike other garden plants, many of which seem to have been introduced to American and English gardens by some intrepid soul who retrieved the seeds while dangling off a Himalayan precipice in the 1890’s, moss pink is a North American native.\u00a0 This should please the department of Homeland Security as well as the many gardeners interested in encouraging native species.\u00a0 The plants have been in cultivation since Colonial times, and were sent back to England, where for many years they were better appreciated than in this country.\u00a0 A portrait of a pink-flowered Phlox subulata appeared in the popular English periodical, Curtis’s Botanical Magazine, in 1798.\u00a0 Here in the United States, moss pink is also sometimes known as “thrift”\u009d in southern gardening circles.<\/p>\n
I have installed moss pink in my newly resurrected back garden in the hopes that it will stomp the chickweed and look good while doing so.\u00a0 The plants bloom in early spring, suddenly covering themselves with masses of five-petaled flowers.\u00a0 Phlox subulata has long been used in rock gardens and as an evergreen erosion controller on sunny embankments. \u00a0When massed in highly visible locations, the more dramatically-colored varieties can be seen from quite a distance.<\/p>\n
Other brightly-colored cultivars include ‘ Arctic’, also vivid pink, and reds like ‘Scarlet Flame’ and ‘Crimson Beauty’.\u00a0 ‘Millstream Daphne’ and ‘Red Wing’ are both pink with a darker red “eye zone”\u009d in the middle of each flower.\u00a0 I have thrown caution to the wind and put “Phlox subulata ‘Candy Stripe’, which has white blossoms with a splotchy pink stripe on each petal, in my garden.\u00a0 Had my fancy run to variegated leaves instead of variegated petals, I might have sought out ‘Nettleton’s Variety’.\u00a0 Each green leaf is edged in cream, and the flowers are clear pink.<\/p>\n
In my front garden, where yellows, whites and peaches predominate, I may try ‘Blue Emerald’, with blue-purple blossoms, or ‘Keryl’, which flowers in a lighter shade of blue.\u00a0 ‘Snowflake’ and ‘White Delight’ lend the freshness of pure white blossoms.<\/p>\n
Some moss pinks do dual duty in the garden by providing a light fragrance.\u00a0 ‘Fort Hill’ falls into this category.<\/p>\n
Weeding is good for the soul, but excessive weeding is bad for your back and knees.\u00a0 It makes sense to get help where you can.\u00a0 Moss pink is that help.\u00a0 Common cultivars are available now at local garden centers and mega-merchandisers.\u00a0 For a selection of others, try Bluestone Perennials,<\/p>\n
7211 Middle Ridge Road, Madison, OH 44057<\/p>\n
, phone (800) 852-5243, www.bluestoneperennials.com<\/a>.\u00a0 Free catalog.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" I need a garden product that will take care of business.\u00a0 This product must do its job with only a single application, and keep the garden looking good in all seasons.\u00a0 It should also work steadily and stealthily to eradicate horticultural archfiends like chickweed and crabgrass. If I go to the garden center and describe … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-20","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-spring"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=20"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1752,"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20\/revisions\/1752"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=20"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=20"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=20"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}