Phlox stolonifera ‘Sherwood Purple’

Phlox stolonifera, or Creeping Phlox, is a low-growing Phlox found in rich deciduous woodlands, along stream banks and shaded rocky slopes mostly in the Appalachian Mountains from Pennsylvania to Georgia. Unlike the other ground-hugging Phloxes, therefore (which hale from more xeric locales), this one thrives in shady and semi-shady niches on rich, humus-rich but well drained soils. Like all the Phloxes, the flowers of Creeping Phlox are long-tubular, with a flattened presentation of the five petal lobes at the top. Consequently, they support long-tongued pollinators, mostly butterflies and even hummingbirds. Like Phlox divaricata, Creeping Phlox has both fertile and infertile (vegetative) stems. The vegetative stems form colonies from short rhizomes and by rooting at the nodes of decumbent shoots, which also branch to form flowering or fertile shoots. The flowering fertile shoots die back after producing seed, and the infertile non-flowering stems persist through the growing season, providing groundcover and fueling the following season’s growth. ‘Sherwood Purple’ is a reliable blue/purple genotype of Phlox stolonifera, and the USDA plant distribution map linked below is for the species.