Spring Bling Ruby Riot Phlox

Light Needs

Full Sun

(At Least 6 Hours Of Direct Sunlight)

Mature Height

4-8 Inches

Mature Spread

24-28 Inches

Growing Zones

3 to 8

Fill a container or garden bed with reddish-pink flowers in spring with a mass planting of Spring Bling Ruby Riot Phlox (Phlox hybrid). Phlox are native to North American and among the best groundcovers, since the foliage nearly disappears once flowering begins for a mound or carpet of color. But once blooming stops, the green, needle-like leaves remain for evergreen color. This makes them a perfect low-growing flowering perennial to use as a container filler or to border the front of a garden bed.

Spring Bling Ruby Riot reaches only 4 to 8 inches tall in a spreading growth pattern. Each plant can spread about 2 feet wide. It should come back each spring in zones 3 through 8, and when the blooms appear, you will know by the bling and the fragrance. The flowers attract bees and butterflies. Phlox are salt tolerant, so you can use them to add a colorful spring border along sidewalks or driveways. Or feature one or two plants as groundcover around the base of a post or other structure.

Spring Bling Ruby Riot Phlox Care

Plant your phlox in spring after the ground is ready to work and has no melted snow or ice. Place it where it can get at least 6 hours of sun a day to enjoy its full flowering effect. It can grow in average or even poor soil, but prefers soil that is slightly gritty and alkaline in pH. The gritty soil aids in drainage. Although these phlox need average water, they will not do well if they sit in soggy soil.

Avoid watering your phlox after rain, and do not overwater the plants so that the soil remains wet. Apply a balanced garden fertilizer in spring if you like or spread fresh compost or organic mulch around the garden bed or container to slowly feed the plant. You can remove dead flowers in summer if you like, or wait until fall and only cut off faded growth. If the phlox plants spread into one another or where not desired, divide them in spring, taking the stems and full roots of three offshoots, or sections, to replant in another area.

Spring Bling Ruby Riot Phlox Spacing

Although the spreading plants create a gorgeous carpet-like effect as they grow toward one another, do not let them get overcrowded. Start by spacing your plox 24 to 28 inches apart from center to center. Then divide if necessary after a few years.