Phlox favourites

For mounds of scented flowers that will brighten up your borders, choose phlox, says Graham Rice, as he reveals some of the best varieties and how to care for them

- Graham Rice

SUMMER phlox have so many good things going for them. First, these hardy perennial favourites are colourful, attractive and come in a huge range of different colour combinations. Second, they have a beautiful unforgettable fragrance.

Summer phlox are also easy to grow and fit well with so many other traditional summer flowers. They are widely stocked by retailers and mail-order nurseries across the country, and many new varieties are being introduced that bring us additional fine qualities. That’s a lot of plus points.

Impressive colour range

Summer phlox make tight clumps of slowly spreading, rather shallow fibrous roots that look a little like slender bootlaces. The fresh green shoots emerge in spring, sometimes tinted deep bronze, and are topped in summer by large domed heads crowded with flat 1in (2.5cm) fragrant flowers.

The colour range is impressive, because although wild plants tend to have flowers in various pink shades, and the occasional white, garden varieties have extended the colour range into purple, salmon and orange shades with even a few dramatic bicolours. There are even some attractive variegated varieties.

Two types of phlox

There are two main types of summer phlox. The most often seen is Phlox paniculata, or border phlox, which comes in the widest range of colours, blooms in mid and late summer, can reach over 4ft (1.2m) tall and is susceptible to mildew. Phlox maculata, or early phlox, is usually shorter and earlier flowering, and is resistant to mildew but has a limited colour range.