Cotton Candy™ Garden Phlox

Light Needs

Full Sun

(At Least 6 Hours Of Direct Sunlight)

Mature Height

1 Foot

Mature Spread

1-2 Feet

Growing Zones

4 to 8

The Cotton Candy™ Garden Phlox, or the Phlox Paniculata Cotton Candy, displays soft, star-shaped flowers consisting of lavender, baby pink, and white shades with striking cotton candy-colored centers. This beautiful plant is truly eye candy, with its delicate pink flowers standing out against the plant’s deep green foliage. At full maturity, your perennial will reach a height between 18 and 22 inches and a spread of about 18 to 24 inches. The yummy flowers will bloom during the summertime and attract hummingbirds as well as various butterflies.

Native to North America, the herbaceous Cotton Candy™ Garden Phlox offers a sweet and irresistible scent that will fill up the area surrounding it. This tough perennial fights mildew better than any other phlox and is disease, pest, insect, and drought-resistant, but is not resistant to deer. With a moderate growth rate, your plant will show an upright growth pattern. You can use these perennials for borders, formal foundation plantings, small urban gardens, containers, and groupings in the middle of your sunny perennials garden.

Cotton Candy™ Garden Phlox Plant Care

To maximize the growth of your perennial, plant it during the springtime in an area where it can enjoy full sun exposure for a minimum of 6 hours each day. It does best in moist, well-drained soil consisting of chalk, clay, foam, and sand, and requires a pH level ranging from 6 to 6.5. It’s important for your Cotton Candy™ Garden Phlox to maintain its moisture, so you must water it regularly, preferably on a weekly basis, but potentially with more frequency in cases of extreme heat or when planted in containers. You can also use a balanced NPK (nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium-based) fertilizer once per year.

It is recommended that you cut back your perennial during the latter half of autumn to prepare for winter. You can also cut back your plant to promote lateral branching, and you can dehead it to help it maintain a nice, neat shape and promote new blooms. Furthermore, you can cut back the stems after flowering is over.

Cotton Candy™ Garden Phlox Plant Spacing

If you want to grow your Cotton Candy™ Garden Phlox perennials in mass plantings or beddings, you should leave no less than 15 inches of space in between each individual plant.