GARDENING:
These easy-going, sunshine-loving beauties will add colour to any plot
MENTION Cheddar and most people think of cheese. But the scenic West Country gorge, from which it takes its name, boasts another delight — the rare and pretty Cheddar pink.
Dianthus gratianopolitanus, to give its scientific name, is a charming garden plant, too. It is less flamboyant than big border varieties, yet has all that makes pinks pack a punch.
Intensely fragrant rose-pink flowers bloom on 15cm stems above mounds of narrow silvery foliage. The petals are frilled or ‘pinked’ at their edges, giving the plants their common name.
These, and many other small wild pinks, grow happily wherever there’s free- draining soil and good sun. They look cheerful in patio containers, rock gardens, border fronts or dotted about a gravelly scree.
There are small cultivated varieties, too — collectively known as Alpine pinks. These have showier flowers. The best are gorgeously fragrant, hardy and easy to grow, and some have extended flowering periods.
You can buy and plant containerised pinks at any time. Whetman Pinks ( whetman
pinks.com) offer Alpine versions. And wild species, including Cheddar pinks, can be found at Alpine nursery, Pottertons ( pottertons.co.uk).
SUN WORSHIPPERS
LITTLE pinks prefer full sun and alkaline soils but will tolerate neutral conditions, and some will even flourish in acid soils. Garden hybrids tolerate most soils, provided they drain well.
If you grow pinks in containers, make sure they drain freely. Use good potting compost mixed with a little coarse sand or sharp grit. Oystershell grit or crushed eggshells are good alternatives.
Perennial pinks become straggly with age. They don’t divide like most perennials but root readily from cuttings. The best month for taking those is July.
Gather young, non-flowering shoots soon — or between now and mid- autumn. Cut each across a leaf joint, remove the bottom leaves and root them in little containers filled with potting compost and coarse grit. Keep them in an open cold-frame or somewhere sheltered.
Cuttings can also be placed directly into the ground, somewhere sheltered but well-lit and with good soil. That’s my favourite method, and cuttings I took last week will be young plants by autumn. Transplant them in October or early spring.
HOTBED OF VARIETY
THERE are gorgeous little pinks to suit all tastes. Alpine hybrid Mystic Star has pale lilac petals, laced with maroon, while Starlight has masses of fragrant single pink flowers.
Among doubles, Silver Star has serrated petals in white with dark maroon centres and Cracker is a short- stemmed double red. But the true beauty queen is Starburst, whose petals have feather-like patterns in crimson and pink.
There are cracking wild species, too. Dianthus turkestanicus has sprays of feathery flowers in white and lilac. Dianthus super
bus has single flowers in purplish pink. And D. carthusianorum has dark green leaves, with shocks of tiny magenta flowers.
There’s even a sculpting pink — Dianthus erinaceus var.
alpinus. Tightly packed stems and short needly leaves become bristling humps. Each summer, its pink flowers are scattered on the spiky domes like confetti.