Phlox are herbaceous plants belonging to the Sinyukhovye family, loved by many summer residents. Thanks to the beautifully flowering paniculate inflorescences, phloxes are an adornment of any flower bed. If you want perennials to please you with long flowering in the new season, you need to make a number of manipulations in the fall, thanks to which the plants will survive the winter safely. I will share with you my personal experience and tell you about the main stages of preparing phlox for wintering in open ground.
Stages of autumn care
The autumn preparation of phloxes for wintering should begin after the end of their flowering period. The first step is to clean the area from fallen leaves and flowers, weed roots, water and loosen the soil, and apply fertilizers. Then you can start planting in the area of young plants and pruning adult bushes. If necessary, transplant adult perennials. The last step is to take care of the shelter of perennial flowers for the winter.
Planting (transplanting) phlox
Correct planting of plants in the fall is the key to their flowering next season. From personal experience, I will say that rejuvenating procedures and phlox transplantation should be started as soon as the plants stop blooming - at the beginning of September.
Seeds for seedlings are planted in containers at the end of winter, and phlox seedlings with formed growth buds are transplanted into open ground in November.
A flowerbed for a perennial must be prepared in a few weeks. This is done in advance in order for the soil to settle. The land is cleaned of debris, weeds and carefully dug up at least 30-40 cm. At the end of the procedure, complex mineral fertilizers and lime are added to the soil.
Seedlings of perennial crops are planted in sunny areas in pre-moistened loose soil. The distance between the bushes is about half a meter. The rhizomes are placed in large, pre-prepared holes to a depth of at least 15 cm.
Do not forget to treat phlox with growth and root stimulants before planting.
Fresh plantings for better rooting, moisture retention in the soil and protection of bushes in winter are mulched with peat, sawdust, etc. The thickness of the mulching layer is 10-15 cm.
Watering and fertilizing
Watering plants in autumn is carried out in accordance with weather conditions. It is important that phloxes are well saturated with moisture before the onset of cold weather.
In order for a perennial plant to stop growing green mass in autumn, it is necessary to stop applying nitrogen-containing fertilizing in advance.
To increase immunity, plants are fertilized with potassium-phosphorus complexes in September.
After applying top dressing, I advise dusting the soil near the bushes with wood ash - this contributes to disinfection. Ash can also be carefully embedded in the topsoil.
Autumn treatment for diseases and pests
Before the onset of winter, the bushes are treated from pathogenic microbes, pathogens of infectious and fungal diseases, and insect pests.
In order to prevent fungal diseases, phloxes are sprayed with fungicides in October. And if the signs of a culture disease have already appeared, they immediately prune the affected areas.
To avoid spreading infections, be sure to burn the damaged parts of the plant!
Perennial pruning
Pruning of plants is carried out after their complete flowering - from September until the onset of cold weather. Pruning, in addition to its aesthetic function, helps to protect the perennial crop from diseases, insect pests, protects the bushes from freezing (due to the fact that the cut bushes will be completely covered by fallen snow). In the spring, phloxes that have undergone autumn pruning will release new viable shoots.
The benefit of autumn pruning is also that in the spring, young shoots of phlox will not need to spend energy on germination through last year's stems that have dried up over the winter.
Shelter for the winter
The root system of a perennial plant is located shallow from the surface of the earth. To avoid freezing of phlox and to feed them, the bushes are covered for the winter. At the end of autumn, flower beds with plants are covered with a layer of peat, compost or humus of 10-12 cm. In the absence of snow or a small amount of it, it is allowed to sprinkle the bushes with loose earth and shelter from above with reeds or spruce branches. In such conditions, the bushes will be able to withstand temperature changes well, and will also be protected from strong winds.
I hope that my tips and tricks on phlox care will help them successfully overwinter. And perennials for more than one season will decorate your site with colorful flowering and delight with a wonderful aroma.
Read also: How to properly prune strawberries after harvest
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