Phlox plant named ‘Bedazzled Orchid’

Abstract

A unique cultivar of Hybrid Spring Phlox plant named Phlox Bedazzled Orchid multi-stemmed compact habit, winter-hardy, slowly spreading plant with bright, glossy-green, lanceolate leaves. Flowers are sweetly fragrant, beginning in mid-April and continuing for about six weeks on branched peduncles. Petals are lavender-pink upon anthesis and lighten slightly with maturity. Petal apices are moderately notched and each blade has two deep purple striae marks near the center eye. Foliage stays clean and resists mildew, and the new plant is especially suitable for the landscape as a potted plant, in the garden as a specimen or en masse.

Claims

1. A new and distinct cultivar of Hybrid Spring Phlox plant named Phlox Bedazzled Orchid, as herein described and illustrated.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

(1) The photographs of the new plant demonstrate the unique traits of Phlox Bedazzled Orchid and the overall appearance of the plant at three-years old growing in a full-sun trial bed in Zeeland, Mich. The colors are as accurate as reasonably possible with color reproductions. Variation in ambient light spectrum, source and direction may cause the appearance of minor variation in color.

(2) FIG. 1 shows the new plant in peak flower in the landscape in early May.

(3) FIG. 2 shows a close-up of the flowers and buds.

DETAILED BOTANICAL DESCRIPTION

(4) The following descriptions and color references are based on the 2015 edition of The Royal Horticultural Society Colour Chart except where common dictionary terms are used. Phlox Bedazzled Orchid has not been observed under all possible environments. The phenotype may vary slightly with different growing environments such as temperature, light, fertility, soil pH, moisture and maturity levels, but without any change in the genotype. The following observations and size descriptions are based on three-year-old plants in the full-sun trial garden of a wholesale perennial nursery in Zeeland, Mich. with supplemental fertilizer and water as needed. Botanical classification: Phlox hybrid; Parentage: Female or seed parent is Phlox subulata Emerald Pink, male or pollen parent is Phlox bifida Top Notch; Plant habit: Winter-hardy herbaceous perennial; compact, highly branched; producing about 30 to 42 stiff, highly-branched stems; foliage 18.0 cm tall and 60.0 cm wide; flowering to 20.0 cm wide and 65.0 cm wide; Propagation: Stem cuttings; rooting in about 10 days; Time to produce finished crop in 3.8 liter pots: About 8 to 10 weeks; moderately vigorous; Root: Fibrous and freely branching; color creamy white to tan depending on soil type; Leaves: Simple; opposite; lanceolate, subulate; apex acute; base truncate, clasping; margin entire with basal one-quarter to whole margin micro-ciliolate; lustrous and glabrous both adaxial and abaxial; about 29.0 mm long by about 3.5 mm wide; Leaf color: Adaxial nearest RHS 137A, abaxial nearest RHS 137B, base nearest RHS 157C; Foliage fragrance: None detected; Veins: Pinnate; not conspicuous adaxial and abaxial; Vein color: Same color as surround leaf; Petiole: Leaves sessile; Stems: Cylindrical; stiff; strong; upright; covered in leaves distally; about 16.0 mm long and 3.0 mm diameter at base; Stem color: Variable, nearest RHS 199C and RHS 146D in exposed proximal region; Nodes: Proximally about 12.0 mm apart; distally less than 1.0 mm apart; Node color: Same as surrounding stem; Flowers: Perfect; salverform; cupped; about 22.0 mm across the flat face; with fused corolla tube about 15.0 mm long and 2.0 mm diameter; in branched panicle of about 3 to 4 flowers; attitude upright to outwardly; Flower longevity: About 5 days on plant; self-cleaning; Flower fragrance: Pleasantly sweet; Buds one to two days prior to opening: Narrowly oblanceolate, to narrowly clavate; acute apex with petals implicate; about 21.0 mm long and 2.0 mm diameter in tube and 3.5 mm diameter toward apex; Bud color: Nearest RHS N88C distally with center portion nearest blend of RHS 85D and lighter than RHS 160D and calyx tube nearest RHS 79A; Petals: Five; glabrous; cleft blade and fused claw; blades not imbricate; apex bifid to about 4.0 mm deep and lobes separated about 3.0 mm at apex; blade about 9.0 mm long and 3.0 mm wide before tube; blade about 7.0 mm across at widest point near apex; base fused into a tube about 15.0 mm long and 2.0 mm diameter; Petal color: Adaxial blade: main blade opening nearest between RHS N82B and lightening in maturity to between RHS 84C and RHS 84D with 2.0 mm central eye opening nearest RHS N82B with each petal having two spots about 1.0 mm long between RHS 93A and RHS 93B; central eye lightening to nearest RHS 76C in maturity; Abaxial blade: nearest RHS N82D; Inner corolla tube: Nearest RHS 82D, basal 2.0 mm nearest RHS 145C; Outer corolla tube: Nearest RHS 85A and lightening to lighter than RHS 145D at base; Androecium: Filaments.Usually five, adnate to inner corolla at various heights; about 1.0 mm and 0.1 mm in diameter; color nearest RHS NN155D. Anther.Oblong elliptic; dorsifixed; oblong, about 2.0 mm long by 0.7 mm wide; color nearest RHS 17B. Pollen.Nearly microscopic, spherical; color nearest RHS 23A. Gynoecium: One pistil per flower; 13.0 mm long; Style.Cylindrical; about 11.0 mm long and 0.2 mm diameter when flower is mature; color nearest RHS 157D. Stigma.Trifid in proximal 1.0 mm, about 0.2 mm diameter; persistent after flower abscission; nearest RHS 1C. Ovary.Inferior; globose; about 1.0 mm long and 1.0 mm diameter; color nearest RHS 144A. Calyx: Campanulate; about 9.0 mm long and 3.5 mm across at apex; Sepals: Five; linear; glabrous; acute apex, fused in basal 4.0 mm; margin entire, ciliate; pubescent abaxial, glabrous and lustrous adaxial; individually about 9.0 mm long and 1.0 mm wide at fusion; Sepal color: Adaxial nearest RHS 137B and abaxial nearest RHS 137C with a blush of nearest RHS N77A; Peduncle: Finely puberulent; strong, flexible; upright, cylindrical; about 1.5 mm diameter at base and 3.4 cm long; Peduncle color: Nearest RHS N77A; Pedicle: Cylindrical; finely puberulent; flexible; upright to outwardly; to about 10.0 mm long and 1.0 mm diameter; Pedicle color: RHS N77A; Fruit and seeds: Not yet been observed; Hardiness and culture: The new plant grows best with full sun, plenty of moisture and adequate drainage, and can tolerate drier conditions once established; hardy to at least from USDA zone 4 through 8. Disease and pest resistance: Phlox Bedazzled Orchid demonstrates excellent powdery mildew resistance under conditions that would normally show symptoms. Further resistance or susceptibility beyond that of other Hybrid Spring Phlox is not known.