Aunt Lina's Woods Phlox

Aunt Lina had this all in her flower beds and Mother and I loved it. It's vibrant blue/purple is gorgeous with all the pinks and yellows of Spring and it's fragrance is heavenly. Of course I dug some and put it out here. As a child Mother did not have set "flower beds." She had "patches". This patch had asparagus and marigolds, that patch over there had Bells of Ireland and red peppers. Then we had the bigger vegetable patch that had zinnias and poppies thrown in but mostly vegetables. As a consequence our woods phlox got dug and transplanted and sometimes forgotten so it never really got to spread out in all it's glory. Eventually I started "beds" and I wanted Aunt Lina's beds. I wanted the lushness of her color and fragrance. I started buying pots of woods phlox wherever I found it, garden centers, catalogs, you name it. It never took off. Sometimes it didn't even make it. This was disturbing to me, I had a green thumb inherited quite honestly from Mother, Aunt Lina, Aunt Sallie, and Daddy. What was my problem? I still had a clump of Aunt Lina's woods phlox, I had kept it alive through years of abuse and neglect. What was the deal? I carefully transplanted it, watched over it like a mother hen. My care taking paid off. Apparently it is an older and much stronger strain of woods phlox because not only did it thrive but it is reseeding all over the pond yard. Now I just dig a clump and put it anywhere and leave it undisturbed and it is going to town! Thank you, Aunt Lina. You babysat me, you let me use your mixer to make mud pies and then actual cakes, you taught me to say PEony instead of peONy because you thought it sounded more genteel [I agree], and you gave me woods phlox. Whenever I asked what you would like for your birthday you would ask me to bring you old composted manure from the barn and I did. Now guess what I would like for My birthday? Genetics. Can't fight them. Wouldn't want to.