The Cotton Candy Garden Phlox, otherwise known as the Phlox Paniculata ‘Ditomfav’ Plant Patent #21,369 or Alpine Phlox ‘Blue Emerald’, Moss Phlox ‘Blue Emerald’, Creeping Phlox ‘Blue Emerald’, is a rather well known perennial plant by gardening enthusiasts around the world.
Best known for its low maintenance and moderate growth, this perennial will likely liven up your house (or garden) with its green colored leaves. But, only if you learn how to take proper care of it for it to thrive.
Fortunately, taking care of your Cotton Candy Garden Phlox is not too difficult – as long as you follow our guidelines in this Cotton Candy Garden Phlox Care Guide. Now let’s get started.
The basic care guidelines you need to remember for your Cotton Candy Garden Phlox are the following:
- Water: The Cotton Candy Garden Phlox prefers constant watering each week and more during the hot season.
- Light: Keep your Phlox Paniculata ‘Ditomfav’ Plant Patent #21,369 in an environment where it can receive full sun on a daily basis.
- Soil: Make sure to keep the Cotton Candy Garden Phlox in soil with well-draining properties, so ideally, one that is made of sand, chalk, and loam.
And as with many other plants, these are the only three care factors you need to remember to make sure your Cotton Candy Garden Phlox is, for the most part, healthy and well to survive.
Scientific / Botanical Aspects
In botanical terms, the Cotton Candy Garden Phlox belongs to the Polemoniaceae family, the genus Phlox and the species Subulata, hence its scientific (or botanical) name Phlox Paniculata ‘Ditomfav’ Plant Patent #21,369 (floks pan-ick-yoo-LAY-tuh)).
As with other Phlox’s, the Cotton Candy Garden Phlox is a herbaceous plant, which means it will die back to the ground every year.
Growing Region
The Cotton Candy Garden Phlox is a plant native to the Eastern and central United States.
Knowing your plant’s native region is very useful, as it can give you tips on which environment is best for your Cotton Candy Garden Phlox. If you keep it in mind, you can try to replicate these conditions at home, and you’ll likely end with a healthier plant.
With this in mind, the Phlox Paniculata ‘Ditomfav’ Plant Patent #21,369 will be most used to the heat zones in the 1 – 8 region, as the plant hardiness level falls between 3a, 3b, 4a, 4b, 5b, 5a, 6a, 6b, 7a, 7b, 8a, 8b, 9b, 9a and the ideal climate zone is between 1, 1A, 1B, 2, 2A, 2B, 3, 3A, 3B, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17.
Growth and Size
Growth
In terms of size and growth, the Cotton Candy Garden Phlox is a relatively moderate grower, which makes things somewhat easy for any plant enthusiast.
Size
But what exactly does this mean for your Cotton Candy Garden Phlox? How large a pot should you consider, how tall, how wide can it get? Let’s jump in…
The Phlox Paniculata ‘Ditomfav’ Plant Patent #21,369 can grow up to 4″ – 6″ (10cm – 15cm) in 4″ – 6″ (10cm – 15cm) and 1′ – 2′ (30cm – 60cm) in 1′ – 2′ (30cm – 60cm).
These dimensions make the Cotton Candy Garden Phlox a relatively medium perennial compared to others, so it’s best to keep this fact in mind since it will affect where you want to keep yours at home.
Also, expect it to grow in a wonderful rounded shape, which is something worthwhile to remember when making your garden landscape plans.
This is why experts recommend keeping an area of approximately 18″ (45cm) free so the Cotton Candy Garden Phlox can spread to its best extent.
Water
In terms of watering, the Cotton Candy Garden Phlox is a fairly simple plant to take care of.
This is mostly because it has a straightforward watering schedule and somewhat regular watering needs.
Specifically, most experts agree that the Phlox Paniculata ‘Ditomfav’ Plant Patent #21,369 prefers constant watering each week and more during the hot season.
Which is why it is considered a plant with relatively low to average needs in terms of water.
Watering
As a rule of thumb, you should remember to keep your Cotton Candy Garden Phlox in soil with well-draining characteristics, as these will guarantee the right conditions for your plant to grow and thrive.
When you consider this, this is why you should aim to choose soil that has good drainage, moist, and occasionally dry properties to keep the right moisture levels at all times.
However, in our experience, the best solution to knowing the right amount of water for your Cotton Candy Garden Phlox is with the ‘thumb’ technique. Basically, you insert your finger into the soil, and based if you feel the soil moist or dry, you determine if it needs any water, which is the most appropriate way to go about watering your leafy friend.
Soil Mix
As mentioned earlier, the Cotton Candy Garden Phlox prefers to have soil with good drainage, moist, and occasionally dry properties at all times, reason why you need to make the soil mix out of sand, chalk, and loam.
This is why most experts agree that the Cotton Candy Garden Phlox requires soil with high organic matter, sand, and shallow rocky, which will give you the right conditions it needs.
In addition to this, expert gardeners recommend having preferably neutral to alkaline soil.
Light and Exposure
In terms of light & exposure, the Cotton Candy Garden Phlox requires full sun in order for it to thrive under the right conditions.
Most experts agree that this perennial will do well as long as you keep it in full sun, and it will be able to grow properly.
Specifically, we recommend that you place your Phlox Paniculata ‘Ditomfav’ Plant Patent #21,369 in from dappled or moderate shade (under other plant’s canopy), to full and direct sun (more than 6 hours of direct sunlight per day).
Season
Being a herbaceous plant, the Cotton Candy Garden Phlox will die back to the ground every year.
But, you can expect it to have its ‘prime-time’ during the spring (mid, late).
Flowers
You can expect your Cotton Candy Garden Phlox to flower around the spring months from April to June (spring).
In particular, this perennial is well known for its long bloom season, flowers for cutting fragrant, and showy flowers around the plant enthusiast community.
The Cotton Candy Garden Phlox produces some beautiful pink, or pink, bluered/burgundy,gold/yellow,purple/lavender, and white flowers around this time of year.
Foliage
The leaves from the Cotton Candy Garden Phlox have a beautiful green color during most of the year.
In particular, they have a simple arrangement with a opposite organization in its leaves.
You can expect the leaves from your Phlox Paniculata ‘Ditomfav’ Plant Patent #21,369 to be around (< 1 inch) in size.
Attracts, Tolerance and Resistance
The Cotton Candy Garden Phlox is well known for being able to attract butterflies, so keep that in mind when choosing your plant, as you’ll likely end up finding one or another in your garden.
Additionally, it has a special tolerance for salt, drought and animals like deer, so don’t worry if any of these come along, your Phlox Paniculata ‘Ditomfav’ Plant Patent #21,369 will be fine.
Garden
How should you then organize your garden to include your new Cotton Candy Garden Phlox? Here are some recommendations by expert gardeners.
Most Phlox Paniculata ‘Ditomfav’ Plant Patent #21,369 owners agree that this perennial will look great in most cottage and rustic gardens of all types.
Other owners consider that they complement well most gardens of informal and cottage, gravel and rock garden, and in prairie and meadow styles.
In particular, the Cotton Candy Garden Phlox’s best location within your garden is in beds and borders, ground covers, banks and slopes, edging, and in underplanting roses and shrubs, others use it for landscaping in a container, mass planting, border, cutting garden, or a urban garden.
Companion Plants
Cotton Candy Garden Phlox’s do well with some other plants beside it. One good companion plant is the Echinacea, which will pair up nicely with your leafy friend.
Others consider that a nice Chrysanthemum will work well too, so choose whichever you find works best for you!
Conclusion
So that’s it! These are the main plant care requirements that you need to keep in mind in order to have a healthy Cotton Candy Garden Phlox in your garden or home.
