Creeping Phlox or Moss Phlox

(Polemoniaceae - Phlox Family)

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• Form
  • miniature semi-evergreen perennial or short semi-evergreen groundcover (herbaceous when young, but semi-woody with age)
  • maturing at about 6" tall by 2' wide
  • prostrate mat growth habit
  • slow growth rate

• Culture
  • full sun to partial shade
  • prefers moist, well-drained, neutral to slightly alkaline pH soils in full sun, but is adaptable to thin soils, dry soils, sandy to gritty soils, and soils of acidic pH
  • propagation is by division of the clump, transplanting of rooted stems, or stem cuttings that are rooted in the Autumn, overwintered indoors, and planted in the Spring
  • Phlox Family, with two major pest problems in Summer: spider mites (prevalent during heat and drought) and foliar nematodes (prevalent during periods when the foliage is constantly wet or under high humidity)
  • abundantly available in containers
  • shear the stems back one-third to halfway after flowering every year to promote lush new foliage, enhance vigor, reduce the amount of topgrowth as compared to the shallow root system, and reduce pest infestation
  • although cold-hardy to zone 3, Creeping Phlox benefits from snow cover or evergreen boughs during the coldest periods of Winter to avoid winterburn, due to its combination of evergreen foliage and a shallow root sytem

• Foliage
  • evergreen to semi-evergreen needle-like foliage is either linear or awl-shaped (linear with a slightly swollen base), opposite to clustered on the stems, 0.5" to 1" long, and densely arranged, creating a prickly effect when handled
  • the medium- to dark-green carpet of foliage may change to a bicolor of green-yellow or green-brown during the heat of Summer or cold of Winter as individual leaves die, but do not immediately abscise

• Flowers
  • flowers are five-petaled (with each petal notched at its apex), in vibrant shades of pink, red, lavendar, blue-purple, or white
  • clustered inflorescences occur at the termini of the very short flowering stems, covering the entire prostrate plant with a stunning, traffic-stopping carpet of small flowers in late April and early May

• Fruits
  • ornamentally inconspicuous

• Twigs
  • dense stems are composed of long trailing branches with very short floral stems, with the older growth becoming knotty, semi-woody, and devoid of most of its foliage with age
  • stems often die out in patches with age, if they are never sheared back after bloom to reduce pest infestation

• Trunk
  • not applicable

• ID Summary
  • prostrate perennial groundcover of trailing stems with needle-like, semi-evergreen foliage, bursting forth with a vibrant show of small flowers that cover the plant as a floral carpet in early- to mid-Spring, usually in colors of flourescent pink, faded blue-purple, or lavendar, or less often red or white

• Function
  • Spring-flowering accent groundcover, commonly found in rock gardens, along paths, at foundations, and at the edge of beds or low walls (in these cases, it can acheive a prostrate mat, stone-rambling, edger, or short cascading effect)

• Texture
  • fine texture
  • thick density

• Assets
  • awesome display of flowers in Spring creates a colorful carpeted effect for about two weeks
  • flowering perennial groundcover that is excellent for sunny, dry, thin-soiled areas
  • evergreen needle-like fine-textured foliage
  • very cold-hardy

• Liabilities
  • spider mites and foliar nematodes can be severe pest problems that will shorten the life of the perennial, and cause large patches of foliage and stems to die-out
  • plants lose vigor without annual shearing of the terminal stems after flowering
  • Summer and Winter foliage often has dead yellowing or brown foliage interspersed with living green foliage

• Habitat
  • zones 3 to 9
  • native to the Eastern United States

• Alternates
  • Spring-flowering groundcover perennials (Convallaria majalis, Pulmonaria saccharata 'Mrs. Moon', Saponaria ocymoides, Vinca minor, etc.)
  • groundcovers with showy flowers in Summer or Autumn (Coronilla varia, Hypericum calycinum, Ranunculus repens, Sedum spurium, Walsteinia fragarioides, etc.)

• Variants
  • with variants based almost exclusively upon floral color, many releases are simply given a color designation, rather than a cultivar name, although many cultivars exist
  • the standard floral colors are pink, red, lavendar, faded blue-purple, and white, but striped bicolored cultivars, as well as solid colors with a darker eye, are also available

• Translation
  • Phlox translates from the Greek as "a flame".
  • subulata translates as "awl-shaped", referring to the needle-like leaves that swell slightly at their base, like the awl foliage of some Junipers.

• Purpose
  • Creeping Phlox is a perennial groundcover primarily grown for its early Spring accent flowering.

• Summary
  • Phlox subulata is known as an early Spring-flowering perennial that forms an evergreen, creeping, slow-growing, non-traditional groundcover, often used as an edging perennial, wall cascader, or rock garden rambler.