At the request of the Watertown Garden Club, in 2016, the Watertown Town Council voted to make Woodland Phlox (Phlox divaricata) the official Watertown Town flower. The Watertown Garden Club has planted the flower at various locations in Town, the most successful stand being in the pollinator gardens in Veteran’s Park and at the corner of Buckingham Street and Echo Lake Road.
Phlox divaricata (Woodland Phlox) is a flower native to Connecticut that favors well-drained soil in dappled shade. It blooms for about a month starting in late April with flowers that are most often lavender-blue but can vary through shades of pink to white. Flower petals have a distinctive notch at the end. The flowering stalks rise 12” to 15” above evergreen basal leaves that remain close to the ground and slowly spread through stem rooting. The plants can also spread by seed. Woodland Phlox provides food for pollinators in early Spring when few other plants are in bloom.