Perennial dianthus

Perennial garden pinks provide pretty flowers in generous numbers, with single blooms held out flat like a ballerina’s tutu, and doubles like a cancan dancer’s underskirt. The colours range from white to deepest pink, many with contrasting picotee edges, flashes or lacy loops.

They thrive in full sun and well-drained, neutral to alkaline soil. Deadheading will prolong their flowering period and an overall trim after flowering retains compactness.

They dislike waterlogged or heavy soils, especially in winter. Some older varieties become bare-centred over time. Avoid this by propagating from cuttings every few years.

Which came first, the flower or the colour? Neither – the original meaning of pink was a small cut. The flowers got their name from the pinked edges of the petals, and the colour was later named after the flower.