Bright colorful phloxes please the eye of the gardenerthroughout the summer. Many florists ask questions about how to prepare phlox for winter, how to protect the plant from frosts. Long bloom does not particularly help the flower to successfully harvest nutrients during the cold season. What and how to do, suggest experienced summer residents.
When to trim
Many perennial plants, includinga variety of phloxes, have a rather tender aboveground part, which dies every year when the first colds come. To determine the optimal cutting time for this flower, you need to find out which grade it belongs to - early-flowering or late-flowering. How to prepare for the winter phlox, which belong to the early varieties? Since the inflorescences of these varieties wither in August, pruning is prescribed at the end of this month or the beginning of the next. All late phlox species lose their color only at the end of September, so the dead shoots are removed only in the beginning-middle of October. The main rule: we cut all the excess before the frost, otherwise you can lose quite healthy phlox. Preparations for winter should be carried out necessarily, and it is worth using proven methods and tools.
Technology of trimming phlox
The entire ground part of the plant is removed bythe usual garden pruner, while you need to leave a small "penechki" at a level of 5-10 cm from the ground. Such pruning is worth preserving, since they have about 3 kidney resumed. It is from them that in the early spring the plant will throw new shoots. Preparing phloxes for winter in this way allows you to find out where perennials were planted, and do not accidentally dig them together with ordinary beds.
Stages of covering colorful flowers
If the future winter promises to be cold, it is worthPre-prepare even frost-resistant varieties. For this, the soil and the perennial base are treated with fungicides. This procedure is carried out only on dry sunny days. Further preparation of phloxes for the winter requires waiting two weeks, and then to bring under each bush one spoon of superphosphate and a little wood ash. This stage will provide a lush flowering in the new season and a violent growth of shoots. Above, the soil is mulched with any convenient material: pine or spruce needles, moss or simple sawdust. But the best option, according to professional summer residents, is a mixture of peat and quality humus. The top of such a mound is covered with lapnik or a cut top, so that the snow is retained and the appropriate temperature is maintained due to the slow decay of such mulch.
Once the preparation of phloxes for winter will befinished, you can move on to other garden activities, leaving perennials alone until spring. With the very first warm rays of the sun in the new year, all designs are dismantled to prevent insects and diseases from ruining the young shoots of phlox. Attention: do not cover this flower with a plastic film, because of it the plant can vypret or get wet. And this can also lead to decay and death.
