Bloom of the phlox clan of bed beauties

August wouldn’t be August without the scented heads of border phloxes bobbing up in the border.

Sadly they bob up far less than they used to, despite being great garden plants, because they suffer when grown in pots. By August most of the potted phloxes on garden centre benches are distressed, browned off and probably mildewed too. However once these pinched plants are released into the ground, they re-establish themselves and thrive if given a couple of years to settle.

Before the advent of the garden centre, border phloxes were grown in every English garden, from bare-root plants dispatched in autumn and spring. However, they are American beauties through and through and were sent here by the Quaker botanist John Bartram (1699-1777) of Philadelphia, often dubbed the Father of American Botany. Being a goood cut flower, they were taken up by French plant breeders in the mid-19th century and by the early 1900s phloxes were also being bred in Germany, Holland and Britain.

Alan Bloom (1906-2005), the famous Norfolk nurseryman with the long hair and love of steam engines, bred some classics that still cut the mustard today. The pale-pink ‘Mother of Pearl’ was launched in 1954. Bloom also raised a fragrant lilac-mauve named after his favourite composer, ‘Franz Schubert’. Many the time I would sit and listen to Schubert with Alan in his study, so this one’s special for me and I wouldn’t be without it. Alan also bred the deep-pink ‘Eva Cullum’ (1978), named after his office manager, and this is another classic. He was almost certainly spurred on by the German nurseryman Karl Foerster, who had bred the unbeatable salmon-pink ‘Eva Foerster’ in 1934.

Another notable British breeder, Captain Bertram Symons-Jeune, supplied ten varieties per year to James Baker’s Boningale Nursery near Wolverhampton between 1940 and 1960. They include the highly fragrant ‘Bright Eyes’ (1967) a first rate performer with very fragrant crimson-eyed, white-pink flowers. Fred Simpson of Otley near Leeds in Yorkshire named a series after Royal residencies like ‘Windsor’ and ‘Balmoral’. He also gave some the Otley prefix, ‘Otley Purple’ and ‘Otley Choice’ still survive. Most of these were three feet high at most.

These days Holland and Germany is the centre for phlox breeding. Coen Jansen, a Dutch nurserymen, uses taller phloxes among monardas and other prairie plants, selecting specifically for mildew-resistance as well as height. Three of his best are ‘Utopia’, ‘Hesperis’ and ‘Luc’s Lilac’. ‘Utopia’ has scrolled buds that open to produce, cool-pink gappy flowers that hover above stiff stems at eye height. ‘Luc’s Lilac’ is shorter, reaching four feet (120cm) but the neat heads of flower have perfectly formed flowers. Even tinier flowers appear on the tight triangular heads of Coen Jansen’s ‘Hesperis’.

There are also brash orange and red phloxes, but these can be more difficult to place. ‘Flamingo’ (Germany 1971) is unique with lilac tubes that open to faded orange-pink highlighted with a crisp, dark eye. ‘Red Riding Hood’ has good green foliage and clear cherry-red flowers and ‘Starfire’, another red, has black-edged emerald-green foliage in spring. The most dayglo of all is ‘Prince of Orange’ (a German variety from 1950) with flowers that do not scorch or fade in full sun. There are also some regal purples too, but these always suffer damage following heavy rain.

Most variegated phloxes revert easily, so care should be taken not to cut into the roots because green shoots will then appear. Raise them from cuttings instead.