Hi Ishareflowers, I have seeds for all 3 of the Phlox species you are looking for. Purchased in '08 from Prairie Moon nursery, they are shipped scarified and include an innoculant for better germination. I don't think these are particularly long-lived seeds and am happy to share them for a SASBE. Send me an email if you're interested.

My phlox self-sows freely and I see new young seedlings coming up every spring. But I let the flowers go to seed and sometimes leave the dried seed heads on the plants all winter. If you already have phlox growing in your garden and you didn't deadhead, look around next spring for small seedlings within about 2' of the parent plants. -- BC --

Besides spring, Annette, I plant for summer and fall herbaceous perennials and usually avoid woody ones (e.g. shrubs). Some of what I plant doesn't like being disturbed, e.g. balloon flowers and peonies. Most of it, however, does much better if it's periodically reduced (and moved) and replanted with new organic soil. Consequently I feel free to plant closely. You could plant a perennial bed with the plants three foot away from each other and it would look great in three years time. Personally, I want the effect quickly, as most people do. With my close planting, it's necessary to avoid seeders and especially runners, which usually means avoiding the species (and paying more for well behaved cultivars). I reduce and move around plants probably a lot, as required with close spacing. With some perennials (e.g garden phlox), it doesn't seem to matter when they are divided as long as watering is covered. For instance, this year my one phlox 'Twister' seemed to be not getting enough sun by the time it started to flower, so I moved it to a better location (watched watering) and it's fine. Needless-to-say, (1) this works well for our growing conditions and (2) I'm basically retired and have a lot to time available for gardening. Re variegated perennials: I never liked variegated perennials either, but I'm now a convert. Many perennials only bloom for two or three weeks and so variegated ones really add some variation to a mixed perennial bed. The other thing that really appeals to me is the fact that variegated perennials may be less vigourous (= tamer) than the non-variegated forms ( e.g. with yellow loosestrife or obedient plant cultivars).

Does anyone have this phlox to trade? I have a bareroot ornamental cherry tree I'd like to trade for some of this plant.