Phlox drummondii is a quick-growing bushy annual which bears closely-clustered, small, flattish, 5 petaled, fragrant flowers in reds, pinks, lavenders and whites at the end of 25cm stems.
It has lanceolate, light green leaves that are soft, hairy and a little sticky to touch.
Having escaped from cultivation it became a regular roadside, wild flower in the Southern States of the USA. But meanwhile Thomas Drummond, a Scottish naturalist, brought seeds to England in 1835 where they were deemed to be excitingly exotic and have become garden border favourites ever since.
Attractive to butterflies and other beneficial garden insects.
this plant will freely self seed.