Birth flower for June 17
Garden phlox
Meaning: agreement, united hearts
Phlox is Greek for flame, after the plant's bright colors. Dozens of small flowers crowd into a cone-shaped cluster, and on summer evenings the scent draws butterflies and hawk moths. In Japan it is also called kusa-kyochikuto, grass oleander, because its flowers look like oleander blossoms. Its low-growing cousin, moss phlox, carpets whole hillsides in spring.