Any tips?

I have received large "shares" in trades, so I do get the feeling some varieties/some people's locations/whatever produce LOTS of seed.

I ha-e some neat photos I want to post of my phlox w/a tiger swallowtail -utterfly on it.

They are self seeding like -razy and I'm getting interesting -ariants. May-e 5 new -lumps, some not so good, and one stray on the other side of the sidewalk. I always pin-h them -a-k for more -looms if I re-ognize what I'-e got.

I'-e not tried to grow them from seed myself. My Da-id in another spot hasn't self sowed.

They do not all -loom at the same time. I k'ant post my photos -e-ause one of the stu-k letters is in my password. Lu-kily I was still logged in here.

My phlox i ought at a plant sale had a -right pink lg -loom and a smaller -loom w/an eye and lighter edge. From there I ha-e gotten some reprodu-e true and some -ariants, one of whi-h I like -ery mu-h.

If you are interested as soon as my new keyoard -omes Aug 5 or so, I will post a-out four photos I took of it; it was seeing the tiger swallowtail that thrilled me. Saw it again tonight so want to put a higher zoom lens on and hope to get some more good ones. They are skittery and fast -ut mar-elous to wat-h doing their taste test lol.

PS I'-e seen photos of phlo- on here I lo-e, think one is Laura. If they self sow so readily, it should -e easy enough to winter sow them. Oh and one has already finished -looming and set green seed pods, don't know what the ripe stage would -e.

I love Phlox and have winter-sown several native species - Phlox paniculata, maculata, and divaricata. Bought these seeds at Prairie Moon nursery. The P. paniculata which ranges from pink to lavender proved to be too aggressive, and it was invading the Monarda (!), so I moved it off to spot where I'm planning a "wild" garden. The P. maculata is 2 years old, waiting for it to bloom now. P. divaricata is somewhat slow growing and takes 2-3 years to bloom, but I was rewarded with lovely clouds of pastel blue/purple flowers this past Spring.

I love my cultivars of P. paniculata, 'Nora Leigh', 'David', and 'Tracey's Treasure', and they always seed around a little, but not nearly as much as the plain species. Some of the seedlings they make are quite nice and even appear to seed true. I transplanted several of the seedlings of David & TT last year and they are much bigger this year, and will be blooming soon, and I can't wait to see their true color.

Thanks for suggesting Prairie Moon because I'd like more. They're easy. The bigger pink has gotten in with the Monarda, but for now they seem to be cooexisting peacefully.

I bought plain old white Monarda and wanted to yank it out. Well this year I decided to see what would happen if I pinched it back and got pretty green pincushions with white petals so guess I'll keep it.

I need to move my David as it's too crowded, in a spot that needs watering and didn't get any so bloomed but pathetic.

I hope you can post a few pictures of yours. This one is icky, but I noticed the parent ones are balled up now whereas earlier they're kind of pretty. When I got the plant at a sale, it turned out to have two kinds and an iris in it.

I notice most people only water their container plants around here. Anything else they have looks like mine. The hosta has brown leaves in spots but think they'll be ok. I will look up the ones you mentioned and thank you again for taking the trouble to explain. They sound really pretty.

I'm only including this picture because I don't like it but pretty variegated colors in the petals. But it looks like something is wrong with it, and something has chewed on that one leaf in the lower LH corner.

I looked a couple places and found all kinds at Bluestone. Reds, purples, Laura can't remember all the different ones. They do have a mix but I don't trust I'll get exactly what I'd want.

The problem with them is most of their plants are in sets of 3, not all, and I have trouble finding enough room for some.

Does anybody have the variety called Nicky? What about Blue Paradise? I've heard pros and cons about BP..but it sure is beautiful and I'd love to try growing it. Bluestone has it in their website I believe.

But the darn function keys are messed up. I thought it was something I did but after 2 days, I got the check box right and plugged in the old kb and the fn keys work right on the old, not the new. So I hope they have an update for this kb because I use the sound keys a lot. It's a newer generation, one key different, and didn't want wireless even if it would have been compatible.

I know I was being picky about my butterfly photos, am thrilled to have gotten anything, they look nice to me in small sizes, but bigger, you can see some blur & other things I'd like to get better. I saw some on pro photos, too, they flutter their wings so fast. But some of mine is you don't want to know, a combo of things.

Just blasted a fly on my numeric keypad with my hand. 0123456789=/ that seems ok. My, my reflexes are fast for pushing 70 here shortly. Sometimes I can catch stuff that falls in mid air.

I noticed my phlox have some round green globules, look like peas only about half, have to be seed pods but don't know when they are ripe, will look for brownish and like they're going to pop open. After seeing they attract butterflies (ignored my echinacea) and how easily they self seed, I'm rather enchanted with them. I think I will cheat and get some of the colors at BS and hope I live long enough to see some interesting crosses from the colors. I think that last photo I posted was a bad cross and ought to yank it so it doesn't keep crossing. I was surprised by the volunteers so don't know if they bloom the first summer or took 2 years.

Poor David was almost wilted away right under the sunroom windows where it dries out very fast so I gave it some water, forgot to check it today.

That's enough to trouble you with. I will be checking different phlox varieties. Mine look pretty spent now, wish I knew if they rebloom if you deadhead. Problem is I pinch when they're about 1 foot so I get more branching and blooms but take about 2 weeks longer to come into bloom. The Monarda didn't detectably cooperate with pinching other than giving me magnificent blooms compared to past 2 years.

Blue Paradise is blue--in shade or early morning before the sun hits them. Once they're in sun, the color changes to more of a purple. I shot this photo around 7 a.m. before the sun was up high enough to shine on the plant:

The plants I am harvesting from are the native violet and a white/violet combo. So far, the flowers have all been violet.

I have a pretty reddish one and a pure white "david" but the deer got to both of those early in the season, they recovered, and the deer were back last week to finish the job. Just might recover but I am not all that hopeful..

NAncy

Boy, we had a nice rain, it did knock over some phlox but like the blooms are fresh again so I'm getting long bloom time with it.

And I found 2 cardinal flowers from wintersowing 2 winters ago I salvaged and potted up until I get around to planting it. That was a nice surprise. Now is a good time because it's going to be cool. I thought they were dianthus, but they are blooming in the plastic cups. One top got damaged and drooped so I snapped it off :-( but I could tell from the other one what it is.

But a rabbit has made a home back in under my baptisia, so I don't know what I've got it's eating. The neighborhood cats had kept the rabbits under control but I guess they're back.

And my daughter found a whole raccoon family on her deck. Man I'd love to photograph that but I don't like her bf and won't go near her place as long as he's there.

I may try that Blue Paradise anyway if I can find one. It's so gorgeous.

I'm happy with my phlox, and it's like it was almost done now has come back strong. Was thrilled to see a hummingbird moth on it last night no chance to grab my camera and try to get a shot of that. One clump I didn't pinch back and will try to do so next year.

Also be sure to pinch your monarda back. Mine were really nice this year and I see that they did branch nicely (about 4 stems versus 1) to yield more flowers.

I wish I could help why your phlox aren't blooming. I'd give it one more year. Mine get not too much sun but bloom great on about 4 hours worth. Maybe sprinkle some bloom booster or compost. And pinch when they are about 1 foot tall. Just the tips.