29-05-2003, 05:20 AM
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????Why won't Phlox bloom????
In article ,
c (TOM KAN PA) wrote:
About five years ago, I planted what was labeled as being Garden Phlox. Every
year I swore that if it didn't bloom, it was history. Well, this year I
say goodbye to it.
Any ideas why it never bloomed
Round here it'd still be too early to be sure it won't bloom as they start
in June & some even later. Maybe sooner for you in a warmer zone. In
reading the results of perennial trials there are always a percentage of
cultivars that never bloom, so sometimes it can't be helped. I have some
fairly care-free phloxes that never disappoint except the white one gets
floppy, & if anyone asked if phlox reliably blooms, I'd say sure does. But
here's what Ron Smith of the Horticultural Extension at North Dakota
State University said to do about a clump of phlox failing to bloom:
"Be sure it is getting plenty of sun--at least four to six hours of direct
sunlight. Then try fertilization once a month to maintain vigor and
bloom-ability through the growing season. If it doesn't show any flowers
next year, dump it and start over."
One other trick might've been to cut back all but maybe a half-dozen stems
so it wouldn't use up all its energy sustaining a thick clump. But as it's
already been five years, I'd do what Smith said to do, & what you've
finally suggested you're about to do, & just dump it.
-paghat the ratgirl
--
"Of what are you afraid, my child?" inquired the kindly teacher.
"Oh, sir! The flowers, they are wild," replied the timid creature.
-from Peter Newell's "Wild Flowers"
See the Garden of Paghat the Ratgirl: http://www.paghat.com/
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