Wild Blue Phlox blooms in the late spring and early summer
When looking to take a photo of the sun, I often try to find a subject to go in the foreground. I was lucky enough on this sunny morning to have a field of wild blue phlox that I could use to accent the sunrise. This photo was taken from a location that I have been to hundreds of times. It’s at the base of a hill in a small parting of the underbrush that lines the shore here. There is a small trail that is presumably maintained by the woodland creatures as they go to fish and drink from the lake. This was the first time that I had seen these beautiful blue flowers growing along the trail, so I decided to get down low to take a photo.
Wild blue phlox has a few common names: woodland phlox and wild sweet William. Its scientific name is Phlox divaricata. This particular photo is likely the subspecies Phlox divaricata ssp. divaricata. This subspecies can be identified by the notched lobes of the flower petals. It is commonly found in forests and fields in eastern North America. Wild Blue Phlox blooms in the late spring and early summer. Given that I was here in April, it was an early bloom in 2023.
The flowers, which are quite fragrant, will grow to be three quarters of an inch to one and a half inches in diameter. There are five petals that fuse at the base into a thin tube. The flower petals ten to be blue-lavender, light purple, pink, or white. The subspecies laphamii does not have a notch on the end of the petal.
Phlox is not self-pollinating, so it relies on some of the insects that feed on it to pollinate it. Butterflies, moths, skippers, and long-tongued bees are able to drink the nectar. It has a long, narrow corolla tube that houses the nectar. This prevents short-tongued bees and flower flies from drinking its nectar.
Phlox is not self-pollinating
Did you know?
- Wild blue phlox belongs to the family Polemoniaceae. There are 270-400 speices of flowers within this family.
- Phlox divaricata is cultivated under the names “Blue Moon”, “Clouds of Perfume”, “Fuller’s White”, and “White Perfume”.
- All flowers in the Polemoniaceae family have five sepals, petals, and stamens.
0 Comments