Phlox paniculata ‘Franz Schubert’

About this cultivar:

Phlox paniculata ‘Franz Schubert’ provides summer flowers that are pale pink-purple in the centre fading out to paler at the edges.

A 1980 introduction from Alan Bloom, it has the Royal Horticultural Society Award of Garden Merit (RHS AGM). The 2013 trials notes say ‘Beautifully shaped flowers. Vigorous. Lovely flower colour’.

The Chicago Botanic Gardens also ran a Phlox trial. Some snippets from their report include ‘High flower production, strong upright habit, and good health’ and ‘demonstrated a resistance to powdery mildew’. But, meh, mildew resistance is not why you grow Phlox like this in your garden – the flowers are so nice you won’t notice anything else!

• Position: Full sun, partial shade
• Soil: Almost any soil, grows well in Ballyrobert
• Flowers: July, August, September
• Other features: Bees and Butterflies
• Hardiness: Fully hardy, grows well in Ballyrobert, H7 – Hardy in the severest European continental climates (< -20C)
• Habit: Clump forming, Columnar or Upright
• Foliage: Deciduous
• Height: 90 – 120 cm (3 – 4 ft)
• Spread: 60 – 90 cm (2 – 3 ft)
• Time to full growth: 2 to 5 years
• Plant type: Herbaceous Perennial
• Colour: Green, pink, purple
• Goes well with: Many – but we love Roses, Grasses, and Astilbe

About this genus:

Phlox gets its name from the Greek for flame. It is a genus of 67 species of perennial and annual plants in the Jacob’s Ladder family (Polemoniaceae). They are found mostly in North America (one in Siberia) in diverse habitats from alpine tundra to open woodland and prairie. Some flower in spring, others in summer and autumn. Flowers may be pale blue, violet, pink, bright red, or white. Many are fragrant. Some species such as P. paniculata (Garden Phlox) grow upright, while others such as P. subulata (Moss Phlox, Moss Pink, Mountain Phlox) grow short and matlike. A variable genus!

All the Phlox we have to sell, like all our plants, have been grown and trialed in our own garden. We’ve found them to be unfussy – full sun to part shade and almost any non-waterlogged soil should be fine.

Combinations are many – but we love Roses, Grasses, and Astilbe.