
Summer Phlox Blooms Through Summer Heat Waves
Last week we finished our fourth heat wave here in Philly and the Summer Phlox bloomed and bloomed thorough it all. It’s a gorgeous hot pink through high heat and humidity. Phlox paniculata gives a gorgeous punch of color right when my garden can look dry and stressed-out from the high heat and humidity.
The Natural Habitats
Summer Phlox is a plant indigenous to Philadelphia and eastern North America. We often find it in fertile bottomlands and meadows, from New York south to Georgia. It grows in compact neat clumps and doesn’t run and spread.

A Variety of Colors
This is a popular cultivated plant. Summer Phlox is naturally a deep pink, but there are white, blue, salmon-orange, purple, red, and variegated cultivars, too. Some cultivars can get mildew. If mildew is a problem for you, you may want to seek out mildew-resistant varieties.

Summer Phlox: Uses in the Garden
Phlox paniculata flowers from July through September. And it is a tall plant, often topping 3 to 5 feet tall. If I want the plant to be shorter, I trim it back to half its height in early to mid-June. This is a technique that can be used on perennials. Cutting the plant back to half its height in early to mid-June and staggering the height of stems will vary height during blooming. We can cut six inches or more off when the plant has tight buds. This will stagger bloom times if you don’t cut away all the buds at once.

Summer Phlox in the Ecosystem
Insects visit the plant for its nectar. I have found tiny bees and flies roaming around the flower petals.
It’s a tough plant, blooming in dry, sun-drenched spots. It is such a joy in my garden during the dog days of summer.
Summer Phlox Quick Facts
Phlox Paniculata
Zones: 3 to 9
Natural range: southern New York to northern Georgia, west to Illinois, Missouri and Arkansas
Soil: moist, very fertile, suffers in drought
Sun: full sun to partial sun
Blooms: July to September
Height: 36 to 60 inches tall, cut back in early to mid-June to reduce plant height when it blooms
Growing: apparently grows easily from seed and will probably reproduce the species instead of the various colors of cultivated varieties. Dead heading prolongs bloom and prevents reseeding.
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I am new to phlox. I didn’t know until recently it was a native. I am THRILLED with how 3 phlox I bought this summer have performed through the drought here in IN. I am going to buy a lot more next spring and enjoy them the whole season!
Hi, Heidi
I agree. Phlox did so well here in Philly this summer even with long stretches of little rain, that I wanted to let others know.
Natives plants truly are adapted to the local climate.