A Phantastic Phlox

This cultivar of Phlox paniculata 'Jeana' was in a goodie bag I received at a gardeners' event many years ago. My first experience with phlox was a garden phlox, 'Miss Lingard'. She died from a severe powdery mildew attack which almost wiped out my woodland phlox too. I was not looking forward to another powdery mildew magnet.

But here it is, many years later and a transplant last year, and Jeana is loving life. No powdery mildew in sight. While looking up the correct spelling of Jeana, I read that it is very resistant to powdery mildew. I also read that its very small flowers are irresistable to butterflies, and I can attest to that.

I had forgotten that I moved Jeana last year. After my sewer line replacement bed was replanted, I did not label the plants or locations that were moved there, thinking I could remember. This past spring, I noticed a few weed leaves comming up, and though they were odd since they formed quite a nice neat clump, and there were no other weeds in the heavily-mulched bed. Not recognizing the leaves, I let them grow a bit to later realize they were my phlox. It was Jeana that I moved during the previous year from an increasingly shady spot where it did not do well, to this full sun area.

I am happy to report that Jeana never looked so good! Advice: label your plants, or at leat photo catalog your beds which I do to show approximate locations.

Glads They Bloomed

Two years ago, my master gardener friend gave me some of his gladiolus corms. They were monsters as big as fists, and all produced tremendous orange-red flowers. I dug some up to overwinter, planted a few in a different garden with some shade last year, and had poor results.

This spring while visiting his garden, I mentioned the lack of gladiolus last year. He immediately went to a corner of his bed and dug up a few dozen of small sprouts that had just begun to grow. These were not the extra large corms from the past, but were nickel-sized at best. I had no hope they would bloom this year, but planted them with a good dose fertilzer and hope.

They began growing very slowly. I thought of planting a few other plants to fill in the area around them since I did not expect them to amount to anything this year. Then, they began to surprise me.

Gladiolus leaves were looking as strong and sized as the adjacent bearded irs leaves next to them. After a bit, no after a big bit of rain, I noticed several flower buds beginning to form on the swollen stems. Some were going to bloom this year after all. No, ALL of them were going to bloom. Since I had no expectations of blooming, they were not staked until it was too late. A good storm knocked them over

As they reach the end of their summer fling, I am labeling the colors so I can separate them for next year. There are carmine red and the orange-ish colors mixed together. They are labeled and will be saved for next year. .