Cover Girl is a tall garden phlox with lilac-purple flowers set off by a white halo at the center. It is known for strong rebloom and good resistance to powdery mildew, the problem that often spoils garden phlox.
Reaching 38 to 42 inches, it adds height to the middle and back of the border from midsummer on, and its dark green leaves stay clean into fall. The fragrant flowers are good for cutting and popular with butterflies, bees and hummingbirds.
What it looks like
Large, dome-shaped panicles are made of flat, five-petaled flowers about 1 inch across in lilac purple, each with a crisp white halo around the center. Panicles top tall, sturdy, upright stems. Leaves are lance-shaped, dark green and arranged in pairs along the stems. The plant forms a tall, upright clump about 38 to 42 inches tall and 24 to 28 inches wide. At peak bloom every stem carries a full head of purple-and-white flowers.
Growing it with lavender
Phlox enjoys sun like lavender but wants richer soil and more regular water, so plant it in an adjacent cottage border, where its lilac-purple flowers pick up as the first lavender bloom winds down.
Care
Grow in full sun to part shade in average to fertile soil kept evenly moist; full sun and good air flow give the most flowers and the healthiest leaves. Hardy in zones 3-8. Deadhead spent flower clusters to encourage rebloom, and divide every few years in spring to keep the clump vigorous.
At a glance
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Botanical name: Phlox paniculata
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Flower color: Lavender purple with a white halo
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Foliage: Dark green
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Growth habit: Tall, upright clump
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Mature size: 38–42 in tall × 24–28 in wide
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USDA hardiness zones: 3–8
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Light: full sun, part sun to part shade
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Bloom start: Early-July
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Peak bloom: Late-July
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Bloom pattern: Repeat Blooming
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Deer resistance: Susceptible
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Pollinator value: Great
Sizes and shipping
Dormant bare-root plant, sold in boxes of 25 per variety (order in multiples of 25). Bare-root plants ship or are picked up March 1–May 31 only. They are soil-free, so they may ship to every state in that window. Dormant plants often show little or no top growth on arrival; plant or heel them in promptly.