Creeping Phlox

I've been doing a lot of complaining about the pollen lately. I still struggle with sinus pain, a coat of muck in my throat, and a voice that gets really bad by the end of the day. I take stuff to help the symptoms, but nothing has "cured" me of my allergy woes.

But I have to tell you that the pollen that causes my misery also helps change the season and turn my side yard into a spectacular bounty of purple and pink.

When we first moved into our house we didn't have a fence and there was grass up this hill to the sidewalk. I told Damon I didn't want to mow the hill or the strip of grass between the sidewalk and street. I wanted to plant a ground cover and I knew what it was, I just didn't know what the name was.

I did some research and found it was known as "creeping phlox." I had seen it in purple, pink, and white flowers. It climbed hills, draped their lovely blooms over rocks and stone walls, marrying mother nature to man-made objects in a beauty I knew I wanted in my yard.

This particular ground cover is in many yards in our neighborhood, but none of them have the amount of ground covered that we do. Damon ordered the root-bare plants from an online source and the first year they arrived while we were on vacation. We planted them as best as we could, but out of the 50 root bare plants, only one survived. That was seven years ago, and that plant now covers about 3 feet. We have split it and transplanted some of it to other areas, but it still thrives.

For five years we added creeping phlox to the street-side hill and now we are reaping the benefits of that hard work. We always ordered bare root plants, in a variety of color. When they arrive we plant them that day, no matter how cold or late in the day it is. We have no idea what the color arrangement is, because there are no blooms. I think we figured out based on the heartiness of the greenery which ones are purple and which are pink. Somehow we ended up with a lot of purple, which blooms first, and no white at all.

I told my friend Ang. that I would post these pictures for her, to go with her star magnolia and forsythia. Spring may be a difficult season for me, but as long as I have my garden of phlox, I think I can endure.

What is blooming in your yard?

Update: I found a "before" picture!