Flora Fact

Pride of Texas

With intense lipstick hues, spring’s bounty of phlox is hard to miss.

by Louie Bond

In Greek, the word phlox means “flame,” and this spring beauty’s intense colors are certainly on fire. Even better, the stunning pink or purple blossoms smell as lovely as they look.

Also called Texas pride, Drummond’s or annual phlox, blossoms appear in March, April and May on plants that are about a foot tall, sometimes up to 20 inches. This Southern belle of roadsides and fields escaped from cultivation and now thrives in the wild in Texas. The species is named for Thomas Drummond of Scotland, who collected Texas seeds in an area where there were red and pink phlox and sent them to England in 1835. It has been prized in Europe as an “exotic” cultivated garden flower ever since. About 200 true breeding strains were developed from this single collection of seeds: red, pink, white, lavender, maroon, coral, pale pink and mixtures of these colors.

The leaves are soft, hairy and sticky. Fist-sized, terminal clusters of dozens of 1-inch-wide flowers make a perfect landing place for nectar-seeking insects. A deep, narrow throat leads to the nectar disk, well-suited to the long, curled proboscis of the butterfly.

Phlox nectar attracts a variety of butterflies, bees and moths and is a food source for rabbits and deer.

In Victorian times, people liked to ascribe meaning to flowers, and they considered phlox to mean “our souls are united” or “we think alike,” so it was used at weddings and family gatherings. According to folklore, planting it in the garden encourages family unity and harmony.