Hi Sammy, the deer deadhead my phlox and smaller flower clusters appear. Trim down just below the main flower head and you should get more bloom.

Your garden may honestly be too dry for monarda. Here its an absolute weed that spreads by runners and tries to take over by choking out other well behaved plants. I dig out tons of it each spring to keep it in check. It blooms from July to October. But its very shallow rooted and mildews if we go a week without rain.

Garden Phlox produces secondary and terciary blooms from the same flower head. I leave mine alone unless it's drying. The drawback is that it sets seeds. You will get seedlings whose blooms for the most part reverse to the species.

Re phlox: a bit more.

I certainly garden for garden/summer phlox and maintain a largish number of phlox, in mixed perennial beds in the smallish area of our garden.

I'd say that reducing the size of individual plants (number of stems) and, long-term, dividing while upgrading the soil both become key activities in their maintenance.

I invariably deadhead plants like garden phlox to encourage the plant to put energy into flower production rather than seed production. Our phlox produce so much flower that is not worth bothering about part of a single bloom.

Deadheading and cutting back the plants also increases air flow, the plants sun exposure and water (from watering) reaching the soil surface.

In the interests of phlox and other perennial plant hygiene, our flower beds are cleared to ground level by the end of the growing season.

Image: August 5, last year.
The main garden phlox here are just about to start blooming.

Again Sunny...I really love your phlox! Such a beautiful variety.

I deadhead mine for a (small) rebloom.

I have never divided mine...the larger they get the more beautiful they are....

At my old house they grew humongous. Neighbors always complimented them, and I was known as the flower lady (from the phlox alone) lol.

Interesting, Lilsprout.

Re division:
The size of the garden aside, I certainly agree with "the larger" ---"the more beautiful", as long as it stays healthy.

It always irritates me that there is no Forum devoted to garden phlox on GW (or any other major North American gardening site, to my knowledge).

After all, phlox have been tauted as the single most prominent garden perennial over first four decades of the 20th century. And they've made a big come-back since the 1980s.

It would be so nice for serious phlox gardeners to be able to compare their experiences within a Phlox Forum.

For instance, re your/my experience with plant division: are the particular cultivars a relevant factor? I've had 'Blue Boy' longer than 'Peppermint Twist'. The latter, in my experience, is far more vigorous than the former. I've never divided my several 'Blue Boy' phlox. One impetus I have in dividing 'Peppermint Twist' (which I love, reversion and all) is the need to get rid of some of it.

This post was edited by SunnyBorders on Thu, Jul 3, 14 at 22:01

I think I lost this post last year. I am having more problems with my phlox, and am overwhelmed at the information here about the plants. This year I was thrilled to see that they have returned, but they are not all as strong as last year. The strongest two have powdery mildew. They have multiple plants around them.

Are the multiple plants going to bloom? As I am reading the comments, it looks like many of the plants will just get in the way, but will not bloom.

I have many rose beds, and want to plant perennials to go with the roses. I thought these were a good choice, but do not want to invest in them yearly. Any advice??

I have over 100 roses in beds or free standing. I am working to make my yard a garden not a rose nursery. In Oklahoma the roses stall when it gets really hot, and I need other plants to take over. or to "take up the slack."

Sammy

Your phlox are beautiful. It sounds like a play on words when I say that I am not planting roses in a perennial bed, but planting perennials in a rose bed. That does make a difference. My gloves are designed for rose care, The focus of my yard is "roses", so I know exactly how to move around them ---I have been practicing for about 40 years.

Without the eye being able to see other flowers, roses can begin to look like a rose nursery instead of a garden. I can really understand why you would not want to insert a rose into your perennials when they are so beautiful on their own.

Sammy