Grow phlox properly
Phloxes are wonderful garden flowers, whichproper care and choice of soil will not be one year to please you with intense flowering from early spring to autumn. But to believe that this plant is unpretentious, erroneous. Particular attention should be given to the fertility of the soil and the lighting of the site, otherwise the idea to decorate your flower bed will not end with success.
Correct Planting and Reproduction
If you choose the correct landing site, then in the future they will not require special care efforts.
The place for the flower bed should be quite wet,but without stagnation of water. The fact is that in addition to the main rhizome, phlox has a lot of small accessory roots that are not very deep in the ground. If the groundwater is closer than 15 centimeters from the surface, then the plant will inevitably die. Therefore, if you do not have a natural elevation on the site, mound a small hillock by hand. Try not to plant them near trees and shrubs with a wide surface root system. The flower can not compete with a stronger plant for light and moisture, and will inevitably perish.
The soil for planting is completely different, the main thing is that in spring and autumn there the water does not stagnate.
Phloxes will grow better in a lighted place with a shade in the midday heat. In the shade they will bloom, but not too intensively, and in the sun the flowers will last longer, but will be weaker and paler.
The time for planting is better to choose in spring (April and May) or the beginning of autumn (August-September). If you decide to plant them in the fall, you must cut off the stems by one third.
Reproduction
You can enlarge the flower bed with phloxes from any of theknown methods of reproduction. It can be a planting of seeds and subsequent seedling in the open ground, but in this case the characteristics of the variety may not be preserved.
To phloxes were beautiful, and for many years grew in your garden, it is better to choose breeding by stem or root cuttings, by dividing bushes or by axillary shoots.
Recommendations for the care and cultivation of phlox
top dressing needs to be introduced throughout the growing season. Then the bushes will be lush, the flowers large and bright. Well suited as mineral and organic fertilizers
in a dry summer, you should regularly water the flower bed. The soil should be constantly moderately wet and loose.
For the winter, phlox should be sheltered only in the absence of snow. Without it, shoots will die after two weeks at a temperature of ten degrees, and the root system at twenty.
if you just started growing these flowers, thenThe soil for planting is ready in autumn. After selecting a place and digging a shallow hole, add compost, mineral fertilizers and ash to it. In acidic soil it is necessary to add also lime, and in clay soil - sand.
that the flowers were large, periodically cut the bushes, leaving no more than six or seven shoots.
Diseases and pests of phlox
Observance of all the rules of cultivation and care will not allow diseases and pests to flower. But just one mistake can lead to the fact that the plant will fall ill and die.
Powdery mildew, rust and white patchiness appear if phloxes grow in a too dark place and do not get enough nutrients.
Phlox stem nematode can appearquite unexpectedly. These are tiny worms that live in the stem and roots and can not be seen with the naked eye. But if the top of the plant begins to turn yellow, and the leaves twist, this is a sure sign of the disease. Immediately remove the plant along with the ground and remove it from the site.
