For someone who doesn’t particularly like the colour pink (and never wears it) I seem to have a lot of it in my garden. Some intentional, some not. This week please join me for a look at some of my pinks around the garden.
Above (header in the Cornish hedge) and below is Erigeron glaucus ‘Sea Breeze’ with its semi-double, lilac-pink flowers adorned with yellow centres. I cut this back drastically in the gravel garden this spring as it was trailing all down the wall and into the pebble path. As its name suggests it is a salt tolerant plant and grows happily in seaside and drought type conditions.
I have several plants of Lythrum salicaria ‘Blush’ / loosestrife growing in the raised beds. It is a moisture-loving herbaceous perennial that produces strong, tall spires of soft pale rose-pink flowers in summer to early autumn and this year are looking better than ever, though every year the foliage appears to have brown patches which could be rust.
Another bluish-pink flower is this clematis, name unknown, which grows in the woodland border with only late afternoon sunshine. A more blue one which grows alongside seems to have suffered clematis wilt this year, all I can see are shrivelled up brown leaves.
A couple of weeks ago I showed you the Common Yarrow in white. I also have it in pink growing on the Cornish hedge which came from a packet of wildflower perennial seeds. It is spreading nicely and I love the way it is beginning to trail over the edge.
A similar colour can be found in this Osteospermum jucundum var.compactum with magenta pink daisy like flowers and a darker centre. This was growing in the gravel garden but became very unruly so this spring I removed it all. I had taken cuttings though and now have one or two plants around the garden. It likes full sun and can survive outdoors in milder winter climates if they are in a sheltered location and protected from the cold.
And closer to the house on the Zen Patio is this pot of Scented-leaf Pelargonium ‘Sweet Mimosa’ which remains outside all year. I cut it back hard in the spring and cross my fingers! A delightful variety which has a lovely lemon and rose fragrance in addition to the large shell pink petals on the top two and pale pink with a white throat on the bottom. Dark feather markings.
Do you have a colour in your garden that you are not particularly fond of?
As always, if you want a peek over other people’s garden walls then please pop over to our host, the lovely Jon, AKA ‘The Propagator’ where you find links to many more wonderful garden enthusiasts from all over the world.
See here for the participant’s guide.
Cornwall in Colours 
Lovely pinks Jude 🙂
Far more than I thought 😊
I have a variety produced locally of osteospermum ( unlabeled : I can’t remember if it was you or if it was Gill who recommended this O. jucundum variety to me, however, a little more hardy for the winter but I don’t haven’t found) . Mine is in bloom here too.
Now I will have to protect them for next winter.
Cute little flowers of the Pelargonium ‘Sweet Mimosa’
I found that even my ‘Tresco Purple’ can struggle to overwinter outside and that is supposed to be very hardy, I suspect it is the wet in my garden that kills a lot of things rather than cold.
I wouldn’t mind having so much pink in the garden – it’s lovely! I especially like your Lythrum salicaria ‘Blush’ … all the tiny flowers making one long stemmed pink flower is gorgeous.
I do appear to have a lot more than I thought! Even more than I have shown here. It is a nice contrast among the blues and purples I admit.
Lots of lovely pink. I’m don’t think there’s a colour I’m not fond of in the garden. Wait, I’m not that keen on purple roses once they fade and turn a sort of grey-blue (I don’t know why and I didn’t find that out until I planted one last year). The Erigeron glaucus ‘Sea Breeze’ is a beauty.
I have never really taken to those ‘blue’ roses. I like all colours but associate yellow more with spring. And pink does look nice with the purples.
The Lythrum salicaria is gorgeous
It is definitely pink!
I rather like pink and even wear it (but only deep and vibrant shades, not baby pink!) All your flowers are lovely but I especially like the drama of the Osteospermum and the delicacy of the Pelargonium – both beautiful in very different ways 🙂
I like dark pinks, but pale pink doesn’t suit me at all although I do recollect being a fan of dusky pink back in the 1980s!
Like you pink is my least favourite colour in the garden and yet I do enjoy and appreciate it at the right place and time, I suppose it’s contextual. But my neighbour has a pink rose growing on a highlighter orange painted shed. She told me “all colours look good together in nature”. “Hmmm”, I think I replied! I do like the loosestrife, but dampness is not a theme here in summer so it might not do well for me.
Haha… I can imagine that rose. Saying that I do have pink and orange in one of my beds 😨
I do use pinks in varying shades, balanced with blues and whites, in my summer garden areas. But not orange, if I can help it. Yellows only in the spring, along with blues. Of course, my favorite pinks are in the roses, interspersed with mounds of lavender plants.
Beautiful flowers even if they are pink🌸
Thank you 😊
Pink roses are lovely, I do have one deep pink rose. Your garden sounds lovely – soft pastels.
Pink in the garden is ok I think. Like you, I tend to avoid it in ‘real life’.
I had too much pink as a child. Every bedroom was painted Dawn Pink 😊
Ah! Luckily I inherited pink-refusal from my mum.
You were lucky! My mother would have loved me to be a girly girl, but I wasn’t, I loved doing all the ‘boy’ things with my brothers. I’m sure they must have hated me tagging along!
I was a bit of a pain as a mother. I totally banned itsy-bitsy white socks, patent leather shoes, frills and pink. I may have gone too far …
I was the same, but surprisingly I have two very girly granddaughters who are totally into fashion and make up and influencers! I don’t understand them at all 😨
We always have to buck the trends of our parents and grandparents!
I’m not keen on pelargoniums but colourwise I like most things. I used to have a down on pink but I’m more mellow these days. Ha!
That’s a shame as pelargoniums must do well there in the heat. The scented-leaf ones are rather lovely.
It’s the scent I really don’t like, Jude. It gets up my nose!
The Regal type don’t have any scent at all. I know the zonal ones / bedding type have a rather distinct smell, the ones often called geraniums and found in pots everywhere in the Mediterranean.