If you receive less than 1 inch of rain a week, remember to regularly water your plants throughout the summer. Each spring, put a thin layer of compost and a 2-inch layer of mulch around the plants to help keep the soil moist and control weeds. Remember to remove the dead/faded flowers so that your plants can rebloom.
You can increase your stock of phlox plants is by dividing them in early spring. Dig up the plant and split it into smaller chunks before replanting. These new plants will go on to flower in summer. You can also propagate phlox by taking root cuttings in winter, before they start to send up their spring shoots.
Prefers full sun to very light shade and enjoys moderately fertile, medium moisture, well-drained soils. This plant needs good air circulation! Avoid overhead watering and add summer mulch to keep the root area cool.
Phlox will reseed itself so there need never be a year without these lovely flowers. Deadheading phlox blooms will prevent much of that reseeding. Some gardeners deadhead phlox flowers to confine the spread of the plant. Since phlox is a perennial, the resulting seedlings can become weedy and often do not bloom.
Phlox, Creeping Plant FeaturesAnd when the plant is not in bloom, creeping phlox still looks good, sporting bright green, needle-like foliage that adds texture to your garden.
To divide phlox, cut around the root ball with a sharp spade, then gently lift the plant out from the ground. Remove excess dirt from the roots. Separate the roots into sections with three or more shoots and adequate roots with a sharp, clean knife. Plant these new divisions immediately and water them thoroughly.
Creeping Phlox PropagationSimply dig the plant up, preserving the root ball. Cut through the center of the plant and through the roots with a sharp soil knife or even a spade. Replant one-half of the phlox in the original hole and plant the other anywhere you want more of the colorful ground cover.
Improper watering is often the cause of wilting in garden phlox. When the soil is dry for extended periods of time, plants cannot receive adequate moisture or the nutrients they receive through an uptake of water. On the other side of the coin, plants left in standing water may drown.
Phlox subulata 'Purple Beauty' (Creeping Phlox) is a popular evergreen perennial with masses of starry, purple flowers adorned with deep violet center eyes. They smother the dark green, needle-like foliage in mid to late spring.
Volcano phlox are strong, sturdy and produce an astonishing number of flowers over many summer months. Best of all, these phlox are fragrant and exceptionally tolerant of powdery mildew which plagues other phlox varieties.
Dig and mix the organic material into the soil. Use a garden trowel to dig a hole approximately double the width of the creeping phlox's nursery container. If planting multiple plants, space planting holes about a foot apart. Slide the creeping phlox carefully from the container, and then place the plant in the hole.
The Creeping Phlox that I planted last spring to flow over the old retaining wall, exploded in glorious color this year! The best time to transplant is in the early spring or fall. You will want to lift the plant up and find the area where you can dig up some roots.
Has your moss phlox spread too far? It's easy to divide. Spread the foliage apart and cut through the roots along the dividing line, which you can see in the top photo at left, making sure all the roots on the division are severed from the main plant.
Needless to say, creeping phlox is one hardy plant. One of the best loved features about creeping phlox is that it will spread, but is not so brutish as to be invasive about it. It will cover an area quite nicely and will politely step around anything already growing there.
Cut the plant into new evenly sized plants, and put the newly formed root balls in the already prepared holes. Water the new plants at least once per week for the first month to help the plants get established. Dividing dianthus should be done every 3 to 5 years.
Place the ground cover on a piece of cardboard or in a cardboard box to move the plant to its new area. If you won't be transplanting the ground cover immediately, place the plant in the shade and keep the roots damp. Dig a hole only as deep as the ground cover's root ball, but two or three times as wide.
