Phlox 'Pink Parasol' will definitely brighten the spring garden! Selected primarily for its display of vibrant violet-pink flowers, it has also proven to be exceptionally vigorous, hardy, and uniform growing. The ¾-inch-wide flowers are produced for three to four weeks, commencing in late April in northern Illinois (USDA Zone 5).

At peak bloom, the plants are covered 90 to 100% with flowers. Close up, you can also appreciate the flowers’ white eyes and blunt petal tips, compliments of its Phlox bifida parent. Two-year-old plants measured 12 inches wide and 5 inches tall at peak bloom, and five-year-old plants measured 21 inches wide and 7 inches tall at peak bloom. These are more mounded growers than the similar (but more spreading and layering) moss phlox, Phlox subulata.

Older plants may become somewhat woody in the center. These respond favorably to light pruning immediately after flowering is completed. Like all moss phlox, it is best cultivated in full sun and on a well-drained soil. It is easy to propagate from cuttings taken after the plant finishes flowering.

Developed by Jim Ault, Ph.D., at Chicago Botanic Garden from a cross made in 2006 between a putative unnamed Phlox borealis (we suspect this to be Phlox subulata) and Phlox bifida.

Likely hardy to USDA Zones 4–8.

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