The birthplace of paniculate or garden phlox is the forests of North America. These plants have a tall straight stem from forty centimeters to one and a half meters long. Flowers are five-petalled, fragrant, up to three centimeters in diameter. They are combined into spherical inflorescences, reaching one meter in diameter. Phloxes bloom from early summer to early autumn. The leaves of the plant are green, narrow, have an elongated lanceolate shape. Their length is up to ten centimeters.
Description of Phlox Vladimir
The height of an adult plant is from seventy to eighty centimeters. The bushes are strong with strong stems. Phlox Vladimir tolerates wintering well and is resistant to diseases. The leaves are green in color. The inflorescence is round-conical in shape, reaches a diameter of twenty centimeters. Flowers a little over five centimeters in size are light pink in color. There is a light border along the edges of the petals.
Phloxes of this variety have beautiful large flowers. They grow fast and reproduce well. The variety is classified as medium-late and late. At numerous exhibitions, reviews of Phlox Vladimir were only positive. Visitors were impressed by the bright colors and undemanding care. Phlox photoVladimir, below, will allow you to appreciate the beauty and tenderness of this amazing plant.
Environmental requirements
Phlox Vladimir is undemanding to light and can grow well in both sunny and slightly shaded places. Avoid exposure to direct sunlight in the middle of the day. For growing high varieties, you need to choose places protected from the wind.
Paniculata phloxes prefer rich, humus-rich soil that retains moisture well. The medium should be neutral or slightly acidic. These perennial plants tolerate low temperatures well.
Fit features
You need to prepare the ground for planting phloxes in the fall. The selected place is dug up and fertilized with peat or humus. You can also use purchased long-acting fertilizers in granules. After that, the soil is leveled with a rake. With the beginning of the growth of phlox, the flower beds need periodic weeding.
Landing in the ground is carried out in spring or at the very beginning of autumn. Cloudy days are best for this. Plants are planted at intervals of about forty centimeters. The soil must be well moistened. The size of the planting hole should be twice the size of the earth coma on the roots. The bottom of the hole is lined with drainage. A depression is formed around the planted plant, which will retain rainwater.
Care Requirements
Every spring you need to loosen the soil around the plantings to ensure sufficient air flow to the root system. Loosening is convenient to combine with weeding. Free areas of soil are best covered with organic mulch. It, in addition to its main function, will provide plants with additional nutrition, and will also make it difficult for moisture to evaporate.
Paniculata phloxes are extremely sensitive to lack of moisture, so they need regular watering throughout the season. During watering, it is necessary to avoid getting drops of water on the leaves, as this increases the likelihood of powdery mildew. If the weather is often rainy in summer, spraying with special means for the prevention of diseases should be carried out.
Phloxes need to be repotted every five years, during which time they deplete the soil. In good conditions and with proper care, panicled phlox can bloom profusely for ten to fifteen years.
Cutting
To encourage phlox to reproduce, pruning is carried out in the spring. At the beginning of summer, a third of the stems are cut to half length, which helps to prolong the flowering period. Faded inflorescences are removed, as they weaken the plant and prevent the emergence of new flowers. When transplanting phlox to a new place, the plant is cut in half. This negatively affects flowering, but promotes easier rooting.
Methods of breeding phloxes
Reproduction by dividing the bush. In the spring, the bush is dug up and divided into several parts. You need to do this with your hands, and not with a shovel, otherwise microbes will get into the damaged areas. You can also use a sharp clean knife. Planting divided roots needproduce as quickly as possible.
Reproduction by root cuttings. At the end of the year (November, December), paniculate phlox can be propagated by dividing the roots. Carrying out this procedure in winter reduces the likelihood of infection with nematodes.
The roots of the plant are carefully removed from the ground, after which they are cut just below the neck and divided into pieces about five centimeters long. Up to a third of the roots can be allocated for reproduction, after the procedure the plant regenerates easily.
The separated parts of the rhizome are placed in a container and covered with sterile loose soil (a mixture of peat and vermiculite), and sprinkled on top with a thin layer of earth. The container is kept at +12 °С in winter.
At this time, soil moisture is maintained at a sufficient level. Both drying out and excessive moisture should be avoided. After the appearance of the first shoots, seedlings need light. New roots grow fastest at an air temperature of 22 - 26 ° C.
By the onset of spring, seedlings should take root well, and each seedling should have at least four leaves. Such cuttings can already be planted in separate pots. Care for them is the same as for ordinary seedlings. They need light and regular watering.
Propagation by apical cuttings. Held from April to June, depending on the weather. Young cuttings are extremely sensitive to lack of moisture, so before cutting, you need to water the adult plant well, and cover the cuttings from the sun after planting. And it will take a little more than a month to root.
Diseases and pests
Phloxes are quite resistant to diseases. They can be affected by such ailments:
- Downy mildew. In summer, in rainy weather, with insufficient ventilation, the leaves may become covered with a white coating. It is necessary to remove the parts of the plant affected by the fungus as soon as possible and spray the phlox with a fungicide.
- Nematodes. Symptoms of damage: deformation of the leaves and a slowdown in the growth of phlox. Unfortunately, there are no effective methods for ridding plants of these parasites; the flowers will have to be destroyed. On the affected flower bed, calendula should be planted for three seasons. These flowers repel nematodes.
- Grey mold. Phlox flowers are covered with a gray coating. Affected plant parts are removed and destroyed. The affected plant itself and its neighbors are sprayed with a fungicide.