Heirloom Dianthus ("Pinks")

When you arrived, the Weigela shrub was still leafing out and wasn't noticeable compared to the Gold Moss. We walked right past it. Most of the time it is an untidy looking, coarse leafed plant; then when it blooms it is a lovely sight to behold. I've had a few chuckles to myself when a neighbor said, "That surely is a pretty bush. I can smell it all the way over here!"

However, the fragrance they enjoy drifts not from the large plant, but from a low-growing mat on the other side of the driveway across from the Weigela. There at the base of our entry lamppost grows a nice clump of my paternal grandmother's Dianthus, the "pinks" of cottage gardens of yore.

Not so many years ago, I was staying briefly in my childhood home; staying just long enough to get the farm and all its houses and buildings ready for selling. A long-time neighbor living across the highway called one day. She said, "Barbara, I have some of your grandmother's pinks. Would you like a start of it?" Tears rushed to my eyes as I answered, "Oh! Yes!"

Over the years, nearly everything had died out from my grandmother's charming, pretty, adorable garden. The pinks had been gone a long time, as had most everything else, but the most sturdy, long-lived of the peonies, which still hung on, and a few of her little species daffodils, butter-cups they were called.

My heart was already breaking, and Mrs. Abel's call made me realize, I had nothing of my grandmother's in my garden. Oh, YES! I wanted the pinks.


Being an old strain, Mother Jo's pinks do get floppy, but I don't care. They have so much going for them in my memory and my happy eyes and nose; I don't care if they flop every day. I think it is good to divide them every other year, and that helps with the floppiness. They do tend to die out in the center so dividing is good for them; taking the young outer parts and making new plants from them. Dianthus does well with a little limestone in its soil and needs very good drainage. We took some and planted it in the terrace between stones and mulched it with limestone pebbles.




These bloom looking like miniature pink carnations. I've read they were called "pinks" because the individual little petals have serrated edges - looking as if they were trimmed with pinking shears.

The first photo shows they need a good weeding. The later one is happier with a good mulch of pea gravel.

And, that's the story about the pinks; my only heirloom plant from the place where I was born. Let's continue on toward the back, just to the back corner of the garage. Someone might find a little bed there to be interesting. It's destined to hold tiny plants.

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