Phlox paniculata Peppermint Twist

Phlox paniculata 'Peppermint Twist' offers delicious and sparkling flowers like British sweets. This compact variety of Phlox paniculata offers distinctly bicolour flowers with candy pink corollas marked with white. They are gathered in large panicles that release a fragrance like vanilla and nutmeg. It is also a vigorous perennial plant, whose bright green foliage resists diseases well. Accommodating and full of pep, it is easy to cultivate in any damp soil, in the sun.  Phlox provides perfect flowers for bouquets.

Phlox paniculata 'Peppermint Twist' belongs to the family of Polemoniaceae. It is a recent variety, in fact a beautiful improvement of Phlox 'Natasha'. These varieties descend from Phlox paniculata, a robust perennial native to fertile and damp meadows in the eastern United States.

The 'Peppermint Twist' variety forms a herbaceous perennial plant with woody stump that does not exceed 40 cm (16in) in height and 40 cm (16in) in width. The stems, stiff and brittle, are covered with alternate, single, ovate and lanceolate, bright green leaves. Flowering begins in early July, at the height of summer, and continues until September, provided that faded inflorescences are removed. The small flowers, 1.5 to 2.5 cm (1in) in diameter, have a tubular corolla of light and bright pink shades, with very marked white stripes. They are grouped at the end of the stems in dense and round panicles, pleasantly scented, whose weight bends the stems. The flowering is melliferous and nectariferous.

Phlox paniculata are perennial plants accustomed to cottage gardens, as their simplicity and legendary generosity are almost unmatched in perennial beds. They associate well with Monarda 'Mohawk' or Daisy 'Wirral Supreme'. Phlox 'Peppermint Twist' can be paired with lavender blue asters, violet blue Phlox Border Gems, or white flowers with which it forms an elegant contrast.  Phlox paniculata 'Peppermint Twist' is a first-class perennial to brighten up beds and to make bouquets for your home.