Pink Flowers of All Kinds

Pink flowers are the mainstay of the perennial garden. Almost every variety of flower has a pink one. Pink shades vary from the blue-toned lilac-pinks to yellow-infused peaches. Pink is at once vivacious, flirty, demure, and charming.

Bleeding heart, one of the early spring bloomers and a particular favorite of everyone who has ever grown it. This plant likes some morning sun, blooms over a long period, and then retires and disappears for the rest of the season. I have tried cutting it and taking it into the house, but the leaves make me sneeze.

Pink-to-yellow tulips in the spring garden

Acres of columbines grow under the fruit trees. Although columbines give us some of the truest blues of all the flowers, newer varieties of pink and white make an enchanting combination.

Pink dianthus with a powerful clove fragrant scents the entire yard for six weeks, after the Korean Spice Bush Viburnum Carlesii is finished with the same delicious scent. This dianthus spreads slowly but inexorably into dense mats that crowd everything else out. The only problem is it looks a little ragged when it is done blooming and has to be sheared back. I have starts of it all over my yard and given away freely to its many admirers.

 The long-lived, fragrant, clear pink Japanese peony Seashell. When this lovely plant blooms in May I know the winter really is over and the summer is actually on the way. It appreciates full sun and does not like to be planted very deep. This has spread for me and I have given many starts of it away. The mounds of green leaves make an attractive background plant after the blooming period is over.

Light pink Missouri primrose that fills in empty spots in the border. These bloom over several months and seed freely.

Perfect, delicioiusly fragrant, baby pink David Austin rose.

 Duchess of Albany clematis facing the sun next to my garden shed in the back yard. Once established, this has made good growth each year. Clematis varieties are so much more than the large-flowered ones, which have been known to "drop dead" when least expected--make sure you plant them deep enough in order to avoid this.

Matching shades of pink phlox and pink Elsie Heugh prairie mallow. The pink phlox mixes with the white phlox, producing all differing shades of pink in between. Tall, bounteous phlox bloom over a long period, and many are sweetly fragrant.

Darker pink Ava agastache, the hummingbird mint of the drought-tolerant garden. This blooms in summer to late summer. My Ava is a very large, tall plant visited by hummingbirds morning and evening.

 Volunteer pink Cosmos. Cosmos seeds itself readily and can establish itself as a perpetual plant in the right circumstances. Large, sturdy plants with ferny foliage cover themselves with these cheery flowers that are so at home in a vase on the table.

Sedum Brilliant in the autumn garden. I haven't grown the stonecrop sedums very long but I've fallen in love with them. Interesting fleshy foliage that changes in fall weather, and these frost-resistant domes of multi-flowered heads that persist over a long time.

Prairie mallow, the sidalcea Party Girl that laughs at frost. I find these popping up everywhere and usually pull them up unless I want a nice bit of pink.