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The colors of phlox need careful handling. All do not com
bine well, and color descriptions are not always clear or re
liable. We have found it the safest practice to select phlox
plants in bloom. Even white phlox can, if badly placed, spoil
the whole effect of a garden. Unless it is the featured plant,
it should be used in relatively small groups and with other
stronger or more colorful plants. It should always be planted
in a balanced arrangement. (Plate 42.)
Mia Ruys is an excellent white, quite dwarf, only about
twelve to fifteen inches high. It composes well with other fore
ground perennials. Mary Louise, another good white, is
slightly taller. The old favorites, Mrs. Jenkins, Von Lassburg,
and Mrs. Flanders are taller and carry the succession well
into September.
In most gardens there is heavy reliance on pinks and reds,
although more subtle pictures could be created with the good
lavender varieties-Caroline Vandenburg, Katrien (which is
an improvement on the old favorite Antonin Mercier), and
the richer violets of Starlight, Widar, or Blue Boy. (There is
no true blue phlox, but this last variety in shadow does de
velop good blue tints.)
For those who need pink or red in the color scheme, there
is Lilian, a good soft pink with a bluish eye; Daily Sketch,
salmon-pink with a carmine eye; Columbia, light pink and
similar to the old favorite Elizabeth Campbell; and Pinkette,
a soft, delicate, pure pink. Among the reds, Leo Schlageter is
probably the best; Charles Curtis is most brilliant. Salmon
pinks are numerous and sometimes difficult to combine with
other colors, as are those reds with a purplish cast. Augusta,
called by some American-beauty red, is intense and effective
where a certain boldness is needed.
There is a small group of lilies that can be used with phlox
for accent. Many of the July-flowering varieties continue into
August, and to these may be added the hybrid auratums,
henryi, the giant late-flowering formosanum, the Maxwill hy
brid, and sargentiae.
The varieties mentioned so far for midsummer are all mid
dleground plants. The foreground is generally filled with an
nuals and low early perennials, which, if they do not produce
a second crop of bloom, at least provide masses of good foli
age to set off the brilliant groups in the middleground of the
border. In our own garden, we rely on the old-fashioned
feverfew with its pleasing foliage and good white flowers with
yellow centers. With us it is almost a weed, seeding itself
prolifically each year. Leadwort (Plumbago) is a fine neat
plant for the edging strip.
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