Gee, sometimes I feel so dumb. I have tons of Phlox in my northern garden, but nerver knew they would grow here. My pink ones never get milldew, but the other colors do. I wonder if my pink ones are the same as yours Mimidi, as mine came from my Grand mothers garden which must have been 70 or so years old. They will for sure be added to my list of "Bring South Plants" this fall. It's nice to have care free plants so my garden has color all summer without my being here. You all made my day with this post. :-)

Hi Lime :D No, I have perennial Linum perenne lewisii (Blue Flax). The first flush of growth grows to some 3' by almost as wide in it's bloom peak. Next year I think I may let them grow to about 2' and cut them back to about 12" BEFORE they ever bloom. The Echinacea is pretty pink...it's just the common species of E. purpurea. I've never really seen a true purple Coneflower now that I think about it! Always pink to rosy pink almost white. My Echinacea angustifolia(common species) is even paler! But the same species of E. angustifolia back home is a little darker. Common species can have subtle variances depending on geographic location :D I'll try to save seeds for you if you'd like, but cant guarantee no crossing, because I also have 'White Swan' and of course the E. angustifolia. I did move the later last fall further away...about 50 feet, but ya never know LOL! Vera

Looking for long-spurred columbines, or clematis...if anyone is interested in a trade. Here's a link to see what it looks like: http://www.cookwood.com/html5ed/examples/blocks/blueflax_quirky_nodoc.html

Hi, finally catching up on all these great responses. It is a gorgeous flower and worthy of much conversation. I discovered it only insofar as it was a component of a wildflower seed mix from American Meadows that I sowed on a late afternoon just before a snowstorm in December 2016. By Spring 2018 many gorgeous perennials and biennials had grown from that seed packet, including our beloved blue flax. On the American Meadows page, it calls it "Linum perenne" but elsewhere says "This species is named "lewisii" in honor of Meriwether Lewis..." so I'm not sure if it's L. perenne, the old world native, or L. lewisii, the American native. But apparently sometimes L. lewisii is called L. perenne var. lewisii just to make things interesting. Yeah, I wouldn't be surprised if it was a drainage issue, though many plants right next door to it made it through the winter just fine. (A notable exception was a Penstemon 'Prairie Dusk', and of course all penstemon need really good drainage.) Katob, good eye with noticing the Siberian Wallflower growing right next to it, and it came in the same seed mix. Apparently depends on the growing conditions it can act either as a biennial or a perennial, and sadly for me it was a biennial, just blooming in 2018, then, along with its neighbor the Blue Flax, returned to the dust from whence it came. That gorgeous blue and stunning orange were the highlights of my spring garden last year. I don't know yet if I have seedlings to carry on the tradition.