Collecting from Tall Phlox ?

My neighbor has a bunch of Tall Phlox, and she's wondering where the seeds will be... what it looks like, how to collect - etc.

Any tips and or links to images would be great.

Thanks,

Terese

Alot of the tall phlox are hybrids and are sterile. Do you know which kind she has?

I'm sure she doesn't. I know they have purplish flowers, and i know she said she wants white.

If the seeds are sterile, then i will just tell her that, and she will just have to purchase the plants or find someone who has what she wants and have them divided. I'm sure it's one of her family members that has it.

Do you know if they divide easily?

Thanks,

Terese

Just in case your neighbours is fertile here's the instructions from the germination guide:

Phlox x arendsii, and paniculata , Sow at 18-22ºC (64-71ºF) for 2-4 wks, move to -4 to +4ºC (24-39ºF) for 4-6 wks, move to 5-12ºC (41-53ºF) for germination

Check the PF to see if you can nail down the species. Yes they divide very easily in the spring I find.

thanks dahlia -- i'll ask her later 'what plant specifically'
and if it is one in her garden, i'll try to ID it.

So If I've got old phox that seem to be spreading everywhere, then they are fertile, right?

Well this sterile thing would explain why I haven't been able to locate any seed. LOL!

Yupper Mrs_Ed. You must have on of the old heriloom garden phloxes that is fertile. How great!

Yes, they come up everywhere! Pretty sure they came from our family's centennial farm!

But no one has said where you find the seed!

Here you go for for the seed info http://www.theseedsite.co.uk/seedpods.html

Thank you. I went and looked at mine. The heads where the flowers used to be are all dried up. I picked a couple and turned them upside down and shook. Nothing came out. I don't know if I was too late or there weren't any to begin with. My tall phlox have been here as long as I can remember. My grandmother planted them. They are a light purple and when they bloom the fragrance is wonderful! My sister has wanted some sooo bad. I was hoping to collect seeds for her, but I guess I will try to dig her up a plant next spring!

I'll check my purple for seeds tomorrow. It's finished now but mine are later than yours bubba1 so I might still have seed. It might be sterile though as I haven't had any seedlings show up. I'll keep you posted.

Thank you. I always have new plants, but I don't know if it is from seeds. You would think so considering some of the places they come up. But, come to think of it, they always come up in my flower bed, never in the grass or in my neighbor's yard. I guess if they made seed they would be coming up in the grass, right? The plants do made runners underground where my new plants come from.

Bubba mine spread too but don't seed. My phlox 'David' started from one stalk division small division 3 years ago and now....

edit: 'David' is definitely sterile but my purple which isn't so prolific in growth is just spreading too. sigh I lost the blue and some of the funky hybrids just aren't hardy here. I plan to get more tall phlox seed from those that have them self-seed in their gardens. That's my best bet.

This message was edited Oct 15, 2008 7:48 PM

Yours look very good. Do they smell wonderful too? I just bought 2 new plants from Springhill for fall planting. They are called Tenor and are SUPPOSED to be a true red. We'll see. I have some in a pot I need to transplant into the ground. I bought them several years ago. They are supposed to be red too, but they look fuschia. Very disappointing. They don't seem to smell. I love the scent of the plants my grandma planted.

Yupper scented. I don't think 'David' is as smelly as some of the older ones but still scented and he more than makes up for it in looks. Top perennial of the year in 2002 in the states. I find that alot of the newer hybrids don't have as much scent. Perhaps it gets bred out with the enhancement of other desired traits? I think that is true of alot of perennials that are bred for flower size, shape etc. "David" should be on everyone's list though if you're a phlox lover. About 'red' I think it's the same as 'blue'. Alot of 'red' plants are actually pink shades IMHO. It really bugs me. Alot of 'blue' plants are purple shades I find too sigh. I google the crap out of 'reds' and 'blues' now and also see if someone local has it so I can see it in person so I'm not disappointed. I'm been beat up on 'red' lupins alot.

I just planted my first lupins today! Chatelaine lupine! I really liked the picture of the foliage. I think it looks tropical, like a hawaiin shefflera only maybe smaller. I am doing tropicals in my backyard. The picture said they get about 3 feet high. That's before the blooms, right? Got any lupine advice for me?

Ignore them and they will flourish. Baby them and? Very easy/peasy to start from seed but start them in peat pots because supposedly they hate to be transplanted although I have had success moving them with a large soil ball around the roots. They can be aphid magnets if near a host plant but otherwise bug free and the bees luv them!!!!. Here's my fav this summer although 'Chandelier' was a close second because the blooms were huge.

I think the Chatelaine is white with pink tips. I actually had a rooted stem to plant. I planted one plant in front of some cannas, and the other was at the end of a row of cannas, a spirea behind it. I am gonna plant belly ache bushes in the middle next spring. Don't you think the foliage looks like hawaiian shefflera? They don't smell, do they?

No scent but they sure are prettiful. Chatelaine. Nice choice. http://www.gorgetopgardens.com/perennials/lupine-chatelaine.html

Thank you. If they do well I might buy some more next year. I also have "eyed" the blue tall phlox. I may yet buy one. But the bluest one I have seen I think I saw at wayside gardens. They are more expensive than the other nurseries, but they have some more unusual plants. And some very pretty ones. I may buy one yet.

Ahem bubba LOL you're on a seed forum. Did you consider growing them from seed? Very easy/peasy. Do you have a sunny window?

No. I don't.

Hmmm do you have a lamp? You can easily change the bulb to a full spectrum. Sorry I'm a seeder. It's way ok to buy plants cuz I do that too. But its a great $ saver to start some of the easy/peasy ones from seed. Thanks for joining in bubba1. Didn't mean to make you feel you weren't welcome because you weren't seeding. Sorry :(

Well. I did grow some things from seed this summer. But I have found it to be very unreliable. I still have some seeds in little pots set in baggies. I have done about everything one could do to get them to germinate. Just not happening. I am leaving them out in the garage this winter. A lot of them are hibiscus seeds. I figure this will simulate them falling off the plant and into the ground. Maybe they will come up next spring. I also have lots of palm seeds that didn't come up. Brugmansia Sanquinea. Very disappointing. But I really don't have a window. I do use a plant light. Sometimes it's just easier to buy the plant. That way I know I am going to get a plant. But I agree with you on the seeds being cheaper.

Its all good bubba1. I've given up on some seeds and put the pots out behind the greenhouse til clean up and often pop, pop, pop up they come. Good luck with your hibiscus.

same happened to me.... quite a few of my WS pots/containers i had given up on as duds ... some were dumped, some i just never got around to it.

I came home from being away most the summer, and low and behold, i had a lil flower/plant actually blooming in the lil cup it was sown in.

I've found some seeds just need a LONG time ....

Sometimes its the conditions too I think. I'd given up on cerinthe 'kiwi blue' as a self seeder. In August I amended that bed when I moved some tulips in. In September up came a bunch of cerinthe. Too funny. I'm going to boost the patch they're in now next spring and see if I can't get them to do their thing.

Hibiscus syriacus and some hibiscus moscheutos have been successful for me in winter sowing containers. Also, if you click on my name and scroll down my list of articles, you'll find a series of "Seed Starting 101" articles (starting with an article on setting up lights) that may be helpful for starting seeds inside.

I do buy plants, but I get plants for my gardens in other ways too. :-)

Bubba, I have these big Phloxes (Phlox paniculata)in white and purple. My experience is that just shaking is not a option, you won't find seed. The heads where the flowers used to be will dry. Just a few of them will form a small ball (3-5 mm). In that ball there is 1 seed. You can only collect the seeds when the ball is dry (light-brown). If the ball has opened, the seed has popped away. I collect the whole dried flower if there are 2 or more dried seedheads on it.
I'm not sure the seed is viable, but mine do spread. The white ones better than the purple ones.

Oh thank you! I will go look!