Spider mites typically produce speckling, and are just visible to the naked eye, on the underside of the leaf. When prolific, webbing should also be visible on leaves and stems.

steve, thanks for the info, although it is pretty it is not the one I was looking for, but I did find it at white flower farm, it is called Natascha- My mother in law has one and it is just gorgeous, and smells great! After seeing hers I decided that I had to have one! I did not order it from there though. Im not sure if they sell nice plants, or tiny ones. -Jessica

Varmints! I had voles take out one clump of my purple phlox last week. Dig down carefully and see if the roots are intact. It might be a disease, but most likely some kind of rodent. They have a decided sweet tooth. Phlox and roses are sweet through and through and voles love their roots. They will also eat tulip bulbs. I plant daffodils around my tulips for protection. Daffs are poisonous, so the voles leave them alone. Little buggers! Whatever is causing it, I sure hope you discover it soon. Solution for your phlox? Bury roofing paper down in the ground around their roots or a bottomless black plastic pot. Use one big enough to accommodate their root ball size so you don't cramp their growth. The rodents will dig through the earth and run smack dab into that and go around it. That is the only thing that has ever helped me save mine. ~Annie

I loved all the suggestions. The upshot is that I waited until last week to get cuttings from a phlox that does not make seeds. I made a cutting chamber by inverting a clear plastic cake dome over a clear plastic cake dome turned upside down of the same size. I filled the bottom with soiless medium and perlite. The cuttings look very healthy so far; I cut off all the leaves except the top two or three, and there I cut most of them back. I was able to root hibiscus this winter using this method, but it was not but about 30% successful. I am hoping for better odds this time. I did use rooting hormone on them also.