Woodland Phlox ‘Blue Moon’

Selected for outstanding flower color and very full flower petals, Phlox divaricata ‘Blue Moon’ bears many fragrant, 5-petaled flowers with the arrival of spring. Enjoy a knee-high sea of elegant, violet-blue flowers that attract hummingbirds and butterflies to your garden as it blooms from April to May. The foliage is glossy, medium-green, and lance-shaped growing about 12” tall in the garden. A long-lived, carefree nativar – the foliage rambles through the garden less like a groundcover and more like a part of a lovely patchwork quilt.

Blue Moon prefers humus-rich, moist soils with good drainage. In its native setting, Woodland phlox ambles near shaded streambanks and along open woods in part sun (only some morning sun), part shade, to shady areas. It will not survive being planted in full sun. Best when given good air circulation and free-draining soil, Blue Moon can get powdery mildew if too crowded by other plants. For best appearances, cut back spent flower stalks in early summer to rejuvenate foliage and maintain tidy appearance. Is not drought tolerant.

Not salt tolerant of inundation by salty or brackish water. Low/no tolerance of salty wind or direct salt spray.

This plant in 1-gallon containers is 5-12″ tall.

Plant Lore:  The nativar ‘Blue Moon’ was introduced by the New England Wildflower Society. It was selected by Bill Cullina during his tenure as nursery manager at the Society’s Garden in the Woods in Framingham, Massachusetts. This variety is notable for its compact growth, fragrance and large deep bluish lavender flowers. The genus Phlox comes from the Greek phlóges, meaning “flame.”

Florida Hardiness Zones 8 – 9a