It's been my experience that creeping phlox eventually get leggy and the foliage from the layers underneath, and eventually the centers, die out. I like to shear my back twice a year, once lightly right after the first round of blooms, and a bit more hefty shearing in Feb/early March to tidy up the plant for the coming Spring. If shearing them back isn't enough, dig up the plants, divide them, and replant them. I like to amend my soil with humus and rotted manure, before I plant my perennials. I hope that helps. Happy planting!

bought my creeping phlox in a 1 qt container--in full bloom--planted a month ago in a sunny place and now all the blooms are gone and it looks awful. it has been watered and given some Miracle Grow to help get it established. What did i do wrong? i am so disappointed. the plant is not dead--it is just not growing .

Mine is doing fine and has for years. Good drainage and plenty of sun. Easy to divide and replant.
Mike

Great photos, both of you. Where I grew up in SC, a homewoner on the side of a mountain had ac. of this phlox in multiple colors. People drove from miles around to see the spring display. Magnificent!

Sorry to say there is now a housing development there and no wide expanses of anything but roofs.

I'm going to plant creeping Phlox as a lawn substitute to cover about 170 sq. ft. How do I cut back such a large area after blooms? With the lawn mower on a high setting?

Tina, I have no experience with shearing phlox, but would worry that the lawn mower might rip the phlox right out of the ground. So, if you try it, do so carefully on an edge. A weed wacker might be another thought for a smaller area, or electric hedge trimmers.

Martha

Tina Buell, you might find no shearing will be required following the bloom season. The creeping types that I grow bloom right against the foliage and once blooms are gone, I don't recall seeing anything that needs shearing. I think the little blooms just dry up, fall off and disappear into the foliage.

Mary

When I lived in NY, mine didn't behave at all until I moved it next to a big, flat rock. Then it spread out gleefully all over the rock and looked lovely.

Hello! I planted creeping phylox emerald pink in partial shade area under pine trees (acid soil) to hope to fill shaded area with flowers. Can someone tell me if it is ok condition for this flower?

Prefers alkaline(opposite of acidic) soils. You may have to move it. May as well see how it does though. The soil under pines is not always as acidic as is commonly thought.

I'm gonna disagree with the soil pH preference :-) Creeping phlox (P. subulata) is not at all fussy about soil conditions and will grow happily in soils ranging from pH 5.7 to 7.7, so from slightly acidic to slightly alkaline!! All they really need is a just a well drained soil with some organic matter and enough sun to bloom well. They thrive here in my slightly to moderately acidic soil without any amending to alter pH. In fact, unless you are growing plants known to be acid lovers (any of the Ericaceae) or lime-intolerant, the vast majority of plants are perfectly happy growing in this approximate pH range, as this is when the nutrients are most available for uptake.

And to expand on the pine trees, they do nothing to make the soil acidic - that is an old and well-established gardening myth that refuses to die. Acidic soil conditions are due to the underlying mineral content of the soil and the amount of rainfall - the type of plants growing there do not contribute to any significant degree to the soil pH.

Gardengal, so glad to hear about the pine trees not creating acidic soils. Your info above contributes a great deal to plant choice ideas AND the need for soil testing, of course. I usually just plant things and let nature decide, but I have put off planting painted Trillium as it needs VERY acidic soil, and mine is only 5.0 or a little more. Will vinegar water help? Sorry that this is not on topic for this thread, but I just saw the above and wanted clarification.

Unless it is a particular species I am unaware of, trilliums in general do not require a particularly acidic soil. "They require full to partial shade and rich, moist, well-drained soil with a neutral to acidic pH." (Fine Gardening) and "trilliums are easy-to-grow woodland perennials, preferring light shade and a compost-amended garden soil" - no mention of any pH requirements!! (Plant Delights Nursery).

FWIW, several trillium species are native to the PNW and our soils are only slightly to moderately acidic.....seldom as low as 5.0!! Plus I also grow a species that is not native to my area and it does equally well. As I hoped to convey in my prior post, most plants are adapted to a range of soil pH - with the exception of the Ericaceae (and even most of these have some degree of adaptation), few plants are all that fussy. I seriously doubt you have much to worry about :-)

Well, I'll try T. undulatum. I have many others, but have not tried this one due to what was said re very acidic requirements. Thanks for info.

This species does require a more acidic soil but since it grows naturally at the base of trees that prefer acidic soils but not overly so (5.5 and up), I still don't think your soil pH will be a limiting factor. It is considered to be a particularly difficult species to grow, not necessarily due to pH but because it has other limiting cultural requirements: "As mentioned above, T. undulatum is almost impossible to please
when conditions do not mimic those of its home range. It is
essentially a northern plant, deigning only to come south at the highest
elevations, and therein lies the solution to keeping it happy. It
appears to be one of those species that is a cause of extreme
frustration to growers who inhabit warmer lowland locations, albeit ones
which can get very cold in winter. Absolute temperatures are not the
key, rather the ability to provide a significant diurnal temperature
variation. Here the summer time temperatures average the high 80s and
90s F during the day, and maybe 10F lower at night, whereas places in
which T. undulatum does well will have similar, if slightly
lower, highs, but the nighttime temperatures will drop to the high 50s
or low 60s F. The hot muggy nights they despise effectively ‘choke' the
plants by inhibiting the physiological processes which occur at night." Edgewood Gardens, PA.

Based on this, I'd wonder about the suitability of this species for NC??

I would say that creeping phlox likes the circum-neutral range...quite in line with gardengal's range, although I'd like to see the bottom end just a bit higher-maybe more in the 6.0 and above range. Not happy in strongly acidic conditions.

I have a deeper ditch in my back yard (full sun, clay/rock soil), it's almost impossible to mow. Ever since we moved in I've wanted to plant something in the ditch so I won't have to mow it. I want to plant phlox, but my husband is afraid that it'll become invasive and creep into the neighbors yards (10 ft. Away) and generally get out of control. Is there a good way to keep it just in that drainage ditch? Or will it grow slow enough that it's not a problem? Also, bunnies like to breed/live near that ditch, do they like to eat phlox?

I don't really know for certain, but I can tell you that my experience here (pacific northwest) has been that I planted it in both acid soil on a dry hill and in neutral potting soil in a cement planter, so probably slightly alkaline. In both cases it grew well (faster in the planter), but not too quickly to easily control. On my rock in NY (sandy, seaside soil and hot in the summer, snow in the winter), it spread out over the rock, but took a couple of years to get there. If your experience is similar, it won't be difficult to control. And I haven't noticed the bunnies munching mine, but one they can't reach and the other two are by the street - they may not like hanging out down there.

How early can I plant my McDaniels ( sun loving phlox) and the shade home fire?

The picture above that looks like a combination of rosemary and asparagus fern is what i have. No flowers. What with this ?

purple_gal, in addition to what dog_wood said, ditch the Miracle Gro. It doesn't need it and it's unlikely to help. That stuff is ok for pots, but what you want is to do is create good soil. MG will just run off into the ground water. Your plant may or may not get a temporary boost. Instead, give it a good organic fertilizer for flowers that will break down slowly, Spread a layer of compost around it. Or just bury some banana peels around it. As long as you have average soil and keep it reasonably well-watered, it the phlox will do fine. Sheer it back - you may get a second bloom. That happens often. It just takes a couple years to really get established.

Lots of confusion on this one. There are 3 spring phlox's. Phlox subulata is 'moss phlox' and grows only a few inches tall with hundreds of flowers. It prefers full sun. It is sometimes nicknamed creeping phlox because it does root as it spreads. Phlox stolonifera is also called 'creeping phlox' and spreads in width each year with little runners. Mine, planted 3 years ago, is 3 feet wide now. The flowers are held 6 inches above the foliage. Phlox divaricata is 'woodland phlox'. This one is closer to a foot or so tall. It grows in a clump and while the clump gets wider it does not creep by runners the way 'creeping phlox' does.

Good points, deeinmd!

My Phlox stolonifera is under a maple. I worked hummus into the soil. But the six plants I planted a year ago are doing nothing. Any suggestions. Zone 5.

Colleen, I some white Phlox stolonifera I would love to share, but I cannot find a way to email you off list. Used to be able to send emails in a blind way but don't see that option now.

I can't believe this thread is 13 years old. I'm still enjoying the same Phlox plants. I look forward each Spring to to the flush of fushia, pink, and white flowers. They're huge and spread more every year. Since I posted my reply in 2004, I have retired. I am now able to properly tend my hillside flower garden.

ncrescue I would love them!!! cmconnor@comcast.net I am still bummed that not one stolonifera survived. I purchased them based on reading this thread! I called the nursery and they stated that stolonoifera can not live in shade. They need some sun. I must have planted 12 plants! I came back to this thread to make sure I had read it correctly. I am dying to see these flowers grow in the spring!

I planted 2 dozen phlox subulata plants a couple years ago, and they've been growing well. I haven't sheared them at all, and now they are getting brown in the center. I have them planted near a retaining wall, but not as close as I wanted, because I discovered that right up next to the wall the soil is very shallow with geotextile fabric and large aggregate backfill maybe 4-6" below the surface. I would like to divide the plants and move some clumps right up to that shallow soil. Can I divide them in september? The average first frost date for my town is October 10-20, although I don't think that is a hard freeze.

@Colleen Connor - maybe they were mislabeled? That's happened to me several times. Also, nurseries don't always know as much as they imply. :-)

I am looking for the perfect ground cover for an area between my concrete driveway and a fence. The soil is poor, clay, shallow, dry, and in sun until 2 p.m. I really want to plant pachysandra because it is pretty much maintenance free. But I think it is too sunny. I have a drip irrigation hose in the bed. I've been thinking of phlox subulata, but don't want to shear it every year. I'm 70 now and gardening gets a bit harder every year. Will the phlox look good with no shearing for 7 to 10 years?

@vivien23, in my experience, no the phlox won't look good for that long without shearing. I've had mine for 2 years and they have browned in the center and look like they need to be divided.

My beautiful creeping phlox. Some are in third year and some are in second year. I did not spend much time to take care them at all.

I have to say, Don, that that is the most attractive planting of creeping phlox I have ever seen!! But unfortunately, most similar plantings look like cr*p after a season or two, as the phlox does tend to die off portionately in winter. Or with the heat and dryness of summer.

You are obviously doing something right :-))

Even in this hot summer, my plants are very green. I don't know why...:)

This year the peak bloom came early. These are pics I took in first week of May 2019. However some plants are still not fully blooming yet.

05/07/2020 few pics for this yr.

Wow @Son Tra that is so beautiful!! I am planting mine now for the first time and mixing colors like this among rocks. Can anyone show a photo of what they will look like after they are done blooming?

I have an opposite problem with creeping phlox- spreads crazily!

Is it better to plant the phlox on the bottom or top of the rock? My rocks are in a slope of our yard.

Victoria I dont think that is the same species of creeping phlox, actually I dont think that is a Phlox at all, I think that is Sweet Woodruff.

HU-67872523, put the phlox at the top if you want it to grow over the rock.

You are right! My mistake. I realized it after I posted and did not correct myself.

My soil is just anti phlox. Planted tons. None of it took.

I have three creeping phlox two in front of my house and one out back ..it’s totally dried Out like hay and it hurts to touch very prickly . We didn’t get a lot of rain last three weeks everyones lawns were yellowing. in Maine .

Here’s a pic

Megmisch

Today 7/2. They are green again.

Hi, phlox flowers in the spring not in the summer.

Depends which phlox. There are spring blooming phlox and there are summer blooming phlox.