Phlox Seeds

Phlox drumondii

Annual phlox is a native wildflower in areas of Texas. As such, you can guess it's a wonderfully heat- and drought-tolerant variety. In late spring and summer, it shows off clusters of red, pink, lavender, or white flowers. Annual phlox or Drummonds phlox is a showy annual. Usually 6-12 in. tall, this phlox can reach 20 in. in height. Its flowers, usually with a pale center, range in color from pink to red, white, peach, or lavender. The 1 in. blooms are in terminal clusters and are trumpet-shaped with a short, narrow tube. The leaves are soft, hairy and sticky. This southern flower of roadsides and fields escaped from cultivation. It is not commonly known that one of Texas’ most beautiful wildflowers has been prized in Europe as an “exotic” cultivated garden flower for nearly 150 years. In 1835, botanist Thomas Drummond collected the seeds of this annual wildflower in an area where a red-colored variety overlapped with a pink-flowered form. This collection of wild seed was sent first to Great Britain and later was distributed to nurserymen in several European countries. About 200 true breeding strains were developed from this single collection of seed, including red, pink, white, lavender, maroon, coral, pale pink, and the mixtures of these colors, with the central “eye” of the flower differing in color from the outer color of the petals.