Last year I posted about annual phlox or Phlox drummondii. It is one of my favourite, annual bedding plants. I like it because its is easy to grow, usually fragrant, flowers for a long time and it has not been ‘spoiled’ by plant breeders and still retains some of its wild character – providing you avoid the doubles and very dwarf kinds. I am growing a few kinds this year again including my beloved ‘Moody Blues’, but one of the beauties of this plant is that it has flowers in a wide range of beautiful colours. In fact I cannot think of what colour is missing apart from true blue and black.

One of the most famous is a blend of colours, raised by Thompson & Morgan that is called ‘Phlox of Sheep’. It is a clever name I guess although it would have been more appropriate if the flowers were white I would have thought. Instead this is a pastel blend of white, creamy yellow, salmon (cooked and raw), shrimp and crabstick.

It is a lovely mix of colours but I can’t quite get my head round the name: surely it can’t be phlox ‘Phlox of Sheep’ and the cultivar name equally can’t be ‘Of Sheep’. Or is it? I suppose the name works because it is the sort of name you won’t forget and here I am ruminating about it!

The young plants have just started to bloom so here are some of the colours in the mix.

The plants gradually build up to mounded bushes about 30cm high and the same across

Geoff’s rating 8/10

Garden rating  8/10

phlox drummondii, phlox of sheep