Phlox 'Jeana'

Phlox 'Jeana': The Butterfly Favourite From a Riverbank

Clusters of small, fragrant lavender-pink flowers with more butterflies on them than a nature documentary. 'Jeana' doesn't just attract butterflies. SHE COLLECTS THEM.

Plant Characteristics:

• Botanical Name: Phlox paniculata 'Jeana'
• Common Name: Garden Phlox, Tall Phlox
• Height: 90–150 cm (3–5 ft), depending on conditions
• Spread: 90–120 cm (3–4 ft)
• Flowers: Fragrant lavender-pink, each about 1 cm (½ in) across, in large, loose clusters
• Bloom Time: Midsummer to early fall (July to September)
• Foliage: Green and highly resistant to powdery mildew
• Features: Fragrant, mildew resistant, 2024 Perennial Plant of the Year®

Where to Plant: It's tall, so put it at the back of a sunny border, in a pollinator garden or in a meadow-style planting. Plant it where you can watch it, since butterfly traffic is the main event, and it holds up well as a cut flower too.

Companion Plants: Give fragrant 'Jeana' a sunny or part-shade bed with a white peony, salmon daylilies and white fall anemones. Paeonia 'Krinkled White' opens single white peonies at 75 cm in May and June. Hemerocallis EveryDaylily™ Pink Wing® adds salmon-pink daylilies at 30 to 45 cm from June to September. Anemone Frilly Knickers™ brings ruffled white anemones at 45 to 60 cm from August to October. Festuca Beyond Blue™ edges the bed with intense blue tufts at 23 to 30 cm.

Plant Care: Plant in full sun to part sun in fertile, moist, well-drained soil. It tolerates clay as long as water doesn't sit. Water deeply in dry spells, since drought stress is when phlox is most prone to mildew. Leave room around the clump for air to move. Cut the stems to the ground in late fall or early spring. Divide every few years in spring to keep it vigorous. Deer will browse garden phlox, so protect it where they visit.

History: 'Jeana' was found by Jeana Prewitt growing along the Harpeth River near Nashville, Tennessee, and is named for her. It drew more butterflies than any other phlox in Mount Cuba Center's garden phlox trial in Delaware, and the Perennial Plant Association named it the 2024 Perennial Plant of the Year®.

Final Thoughts: Hummingbirds and bees join in too, and mildew stays away. Plant a group and pull up a lawn chair. THE SHOW NEVER GETS OLD.