It's time to start preparing phlox for winter, so that they will thank you with lush flowering. I list 4 important steps from my experience

Phlox is such an unpretentious and familiar perennial for us that few people feed and cultivate the bushes. But in vain! After all, the appearance of the flower bed depends only on you and it will be difficult to take away even the most simple plants look, if they are planted in the right place, in a successful composition with other flowers, and most importantly - if they well-groomed.

Of course, I will not die of modesty, but all my friends have already acquired several varieties of phlox after seeing how these flowers can decorate the garden, if you give them at least very little attention.

Stages of preparing phlox for winter

Winter is just around the corner and now is a very important period for preparing perennials for cold weather, when necessary:

• allow as many nutrients as possible to pass into the roots;
• to ensure the prevention of diseases and pest infestation;
• stimulate future vegetation;
• insulate the root system.

From my own experience, I will say that proper preparation for frost helps very much to survive very decent frosts for phlox. And for this you need:

Step 1: Pruning Phlox Correctly

The first pruning of phlox should be done immediately after flowering. I just cut the stalks and leave some pretty green bushes. The early varieties fade in July, the late ones in September. INThe second pruning, already in order to prepare for wintering, falls in late September-early October, when the bushes will turn yellow completely.

At the same time, I cut the stems with shears to a height of 5-10 cm from the ground, no less. The fact is that buds (2-3 pcs.) Should remain on the remaining shoots, from which new shoots will hatch in the spring.

Step 2: Treatment from pests and diseases

In September and early October, I always treat the bushes and the soil around them with fungicides. I prefer Fundazol (10 g per 10 L of water), it seems to me more effective, but this year I could not find it and had to treat it with Fitosporin-M (it is also suitable, I dilute 5 g in 10 L).

Step 3: autumn feeding

A couple of weeks after treatment from pests, the flowers need to be fed. Potassium sulfate (10-15 g) and wood ash (100-150 g per plant) will work well. But I pour 2-3 large spoons of superphosphate under each bush.

Step 4: Warming phlox

After feeding, I mulch the soil around the flowers with dry humus - a little more than half a bucket per bush. If there is no humus, you can take peat or horse manure.

In warm climates, common phloxes normally hibernate under mulch. But I have breeding varieties, very delicate, so I carefully wrap them up with spruce branches, in the absence of which I perfectly replace them with vegetable tops or brushwood. Plants feel great under such a "hat", the main thing is not to forget to take it off as soon as the snow begins to melt.