Never seen that in garden phlox (= Phlox paniculata) or any of the other phlox available here.

Don't use root or stem cuttings to propagate phlox either.

Assuming you're not referring to white hairs, as on downy phlox stems, though have no familiarity with that phlox.

I'm not referring to white fuzzy hairs around the stems but root like white things. I did a search on downy phlox and it is definitely not it.

How do the phlox look? Any distortion of the leaves (curling, lthinning, leaving only the midribs)? Are the stems swollen at all? Has flowering been affected. Have you considered digging one up and examining the roots?

I ask because phlox are quite susceptible to eelworms (which cause stem splitting and swollen rootnodes).
Certainly, creeping phlox (subulata and stolonifera) will creat roots at the nodes, especially where new seasonal growth occurs - these stem roots will actively root the plant mat into the soil....but I have not come across stem roots in taller phlox....although, given phlox roots ability to regenerate, I might consider the possibility of wounding, low down on the stem, causing meristemmatic growth (new roots) to emerge in an attempt to stabilise or renew the plant. Can you see any areas of damage?
I regularly use root cuttings to propagate phlox so, if your plants are growing well and looking happy, I would treat these in a similar fashion to stem-rooting lilies and simply ignore them or maybe heap a bit more soil around the base of the stem - you may find that your clump increases a lot next year.

post a pic

Certainly relevant, Ken.

Here are some pictures. Hope they are good enough to see what I'm talking about.

another one. As can be seen, it's sort of a mess with some stems upright and some growing sideways like a ground cover.

Very interesting pictures, SG.

Roots! (with root hairs?).

Will be interesting to hear suggestions/debate.

From a bit of on-line reading:

Must be "adventitious" roots.

As all likely know: stem cuttings of garden phlox involve stimulating the growth of adventitious roots on the stem sections used.

However, occurring routinely on stems of phlox species:

Occurs naturally in P. stolonifera (creeping phlox), where the stems typically lie on/ close to the soil surface.

But I also found nothing of the kind for garden phlox (P. paniculata).

Garden phlox are usually hybrids, including several species as parent plants, perhaps that 's some ancestors " habit".
I personally wondered that the Phlox looked so crowdwd or dense, are those seedlings at the base or new shoots?
And do the roots appear only near the base? At least that would be kind of logic for this kind of adventitious roots.

If you wanted to divide it anyway, you could try to use those stems with roots for cutting: cut off some stems, use bottom part, ca. 4-6 inches, remove leaves but keep one pair at the tip and stick them into the soil.
This just a kind of general cutting recipe, so you could vary the length and so on.

Good luck, bye, Lin

Are the upright ones putting out roots? Plants are hugely affected by gravity and training a plant to grow horizontally will have profound effects upon growth and blooming (as all rose and fruit trainers know). I would be inclined to simply bury the entire stem, as if you were layering it.....then separate (with sharp spade) any resulting growth next year.

Are the upright ones putting out roots? Plants are hugely affected by gravity and training a plant to grow horizontally will have profound effects upon growth and blooming (as all rose and fruit trainers know). I would be inclined to simply bury the entire stem, as if you were layering it.....then separate (with sharp spade) any resulting growth next year.

I didn't see any leaf distortion or damage. What looks like tiny seedlings is leaves attached to the bottom of the stems that are growing sideways. The roots go about 1/3 up the stems. They are only on the ones growing sideways and not on the upright ones. When I bought the plant, it only had the upright growth.

Burying the stems sounds like a great idea.

Interesting comments/suggestions above.

I would, however, question the statement that garden phlox are usually (interspecific) hybrids.

Taking the "garden phlox" to refer to Phlox paniculata, few are hybrids. According to 'Phlox: An Explanation (www. theprimrose path. com)', "surprisingly few of the phlox garden cultivars of this group (the Paniculata-Maculata Group) are hybrids".

This fits with information given on-line for a few Phlox paniculata cultivars; namely that they originated as mutations or stem mutations. For instance, 'David' was a mutation (sport) discovered in a garden situation and 'Peppermint Twist' was a stem mutation discovered in a commercial horticultural one.

In addition, the seedlings of fertile cultivars tend to show reversion (by reverse mutation) back to the ancestral wild type. And in the case of the sterile cultivar 'Peppermint Twist', stem reversions seem to occur, with unusual frequency, back to the parental 'Candy Floss'.

This post was edited by SunnyBorders on Tue, Oct 14, 14 at 7:26

Have you checked your basement for pods?

JK! ;~)

I cut off and trimmed about 30 pieces and replanted them. Hopefully they will make it. If not, I still have the original plant.

These roots are very common on my phlox. This is a good thing! It's a clear sign that you can cut these off and increase your supply of these plants. If it looks like a root, it probably is a root! Seedlings of phlox usually will not be true to the parent plant, but divisions like this always will be.