How to grow summer phlox - our best tips
Summer phlox - what a wonderfully beautiful and useful summer flower! It is beautiful, smells good, fills out flower beds and bouquets beautifully and lasts forever in a vase. Here, summer phlox has a given place in our cut flower gardens.
Summer phlox is unpretentious and can also handle slightly shadier growing locations. It has an extremely long flowering period and you will be able to harvest flowers well into late autumn. However, watch out for snails and deer - unfortunately they like phlox as much as we do. We usually spray the phlox with Tricogarden to deter deer and we keep snails away by scattering snail pellets and removing any snails we see appearing.
SOWING AND HARVESTING SUMMER PHLOX
Growing location: Grown outdoors/in a flowerbed or in a pallet collar in a sunny position (6-7h sun/day)-partially shaded position (3-5h sun/day).
AT SOWING
So phlox indoors in March-April depending on how early flowering you want. Place the briquette in lukewarm water and let it swell. Place on a dish or growing tray. Stick a seed about 0.3 cm into the growing briquette and cover the seed with some of the briquette's coconut fibers. You can sow about 5 seeds in each briquette.
Mark Sowing with markers. Specify variety and date.
Cover sow with transparent cover with air holes. Tip – use a greenhouse with a plastic lid and place a capillary mat in the bottom to provide an even and good water supply. Place on a heating floor or heating mat for extra fast germination. Phlox germinates in the dark so no light is needed initially.
Water regularly - never let the seed dry out!
1-2 WEEKS AFTER SOWING
Provide light . When the seed germinates, usually after 5-15 days, it needs light. Remove the plastic and place the seed in a brighter and cooler place.
RETRAINING
Replant the plant when it has 4 leaves, then it needs more space to grow. Carefully divide the briquette into two parts with 1-2 plants per part. Water before dividing to reduce the risk of damaging the tender roots. Plant each part in a pot measuring approximately 10x10 cm, which is filled with nutritious potting soil. Plant at the same depth as the plant was previously. Water with lukewarm water. Here the plants are then allowed to grow before it is time to transplant. If the plant's growth has stopped, replanting can be done when it has 2 leaves.
FINAL PLANTING
Soften the plant when the risk of frost is over, to accustom it to the outdoor environment. Start with 1 hour/day and gradually increase the time outside. Avoid direct sunlight which is too strong for the tender leaves. After a week or so it is ready for a permanent life outdoors.
Plant out plant in its growing location, for example in a flower bed or pallet collar, with 20 cm between each plant and 20 cm between each row. Plant in well-fertilized soil. Make sure to support the flower so that it can reach its full potential. Use a support stick or let it wind its way up through chicken wire that is attached over the pallet collar or flower bed. Fertilize a few times during the season to enjoy long, beautiful flowering.
HARVEST FESTIVAL
Harvest and enjoy about 3 months after sowing and you can then enjoy showy bouquets right up until the first frost.
Summer phlox Isabellina in beautiful Romantic Bouquet Collection
Summer phlox Isabellina in the fragrant Eau de Fleur Collection
