Pink Flowers To Cheer Up a Small Space

With last week’s tree drama and today’s rain, I feel in need of cheering up. Looking at the sunny bed nearest our patio, so does the garden. This bed seems to have run out of steam and we’re only in July. I think the problem is that the bed looks a bit monotone. It’s full of mauves and purples. It needs an injection of something else. I think it needs some pink flowers. Pure and simple!

Pink Flowers – My Requirements

Other than them being pink, and flowering in July and August what are my requirements? Well, space wise there’s a 3ft gap right at the front edge of the bed where I could put the plants. That means to avoid a ‘bitty effect’ I either need one reasonably chunky plant or say three of something smaller. Height wise, the plants need to be no taller than 60cm tall (sorry I’m combining metric and imperial measures here but that’s the way my brain works – or doesn’t!)

Pink Flowers – But How Pink

When it comes to the shade, I could go soft pale pink. After all the bed is designed to be romantic. It’s full of soft white and pink roses, Or I could inject a dash of hotter pink. I’m going to consider either route, as both would work.

Okay – so with this as the brief here are some pink flowers which I think are worth considering.

1. Snapdragons

Antirrhinums (aka snapdragons) are such cheery plants. They look a bit old-fashioned but I rather love them for that. They come in oodles of colours and heights . So if you are after pink flowers of a particular shade of pink, there will definitely be a snapdragon that fits the bill. From baby soft pink and coral peachy pink through to full-on hot pink and all the pinks in between.

They’re good for wildlife – a massive tick in my book – and they have a long flowering period, from June until October. Taller varieties also make good cut flowers and last well over a week in water. That’s another big plus for me too as I’m interested in sustainable flowers – so I’m trying to grow all my own flowers for the home.

The one draw back is that they are annuals. Now of course you can try to persuade your plants to set seed by leaving a few blooms. However, I’ve read that the seeds are unlikely to come true to type. In other words that hot pink or baby pink snapdragon could look like something very different in year 2!

So to reliably have the colour/variety I want I will need to sow seeds each year in autumn or early spring. Nurture them and plant them out in position once all the risk of frosts have gone. That’s a bit of a faff, but well worth it for these beauties I think.

2. Achilleas

I’m a big fan of achilleas or yarrows as some call them. Why do I like them so much?

Well, first up, unlike snapdragons, they’re perennials so they come back year after year. Also their flowerheads are a bit different. They’re flat. It’s a good idea to have a variety of flower shapes in your garden as different insects like different shapes. In the case of achilleas, they’re really attractive to hoverflies, which are so important as pollinators.

Achilleas are also pretty quick to fill gaps and their blooms last and last. They like a good sunny spot, ideal for the border I’m trying to fill. And as if all this wasn’t enough, they once again make great cut flowers.

The only maintenance required is to deadhead spent blooms to prolong flowering. Then either cut back the old flowers in autumn or if you’re me, leave the seedbeds for the birds to feast on. They can get a bit congested but this is easily dealt with. Simply lift and divide congested clumps every three years or so, in the autumn or spring.

I already have very zingy yellow achilleas called Achillea ‘Moonshine’, but there are some lovely pink varieties – once again in multiple shades. I like the look of Achillea ‘Apfelblute’ which is a soft baby pink, but it’s perhaps a bit too tall.

A slightly more compact variety with pink flowers is Achillea millefolium ‘Pretty Belinda’.

I also like the look of Achillea ‘Cerise Queen’, which has cerise pink flower heads with dark edges and paler colouring towards the centre.

But to be honest I think this baby pink variety below looks pretty gorgeous too. It may have teeny tiny flowerheads but it has a mighty big name Achillea sibirica subsp. camschatica ‘Love Parade’

3. Foxgloves

Another classic cottage garden plant is the foxglove. They are either biennial or perennial. Biennial varieties grow their roots and produce a bit of foliage in the first year. They flower and set seeds in the second. Whereas the perennial varieties flower every year.

I’m very drawn to foxgloves for their structure. I think they look wonderful rising up amongst other plants in a border. As a result, they many not be ideal for the front of my border. Then again a lovely clump of Digitalis  ‘Mertonensis,’ which at 70cm all is only just taller than my requirement, would be rather interesting. It is commonly known as the strawberry foxglove, owing to its large, pink-red crushed strawberry coloured blooms, and it’s perennial which appeals to me.

4. Echinaceas

Although echinceas are often called purple coneflowers (what a boring name for a flower!) you can get them in some gorgeous pink shades including salmon, rose, raspberry, and magenta.

They bloom from mid summer onwards right into September. So if I’m trying to add some much needed colour to my sunny flowerbed in July, they’re a real contender.

Echinaceas also have flowers which last a seriously long time so there’s not endless deadheading to be done. This is quite a consideration for me as I’ve already got lots of roses to deadhead and keep on top of at this time of year. They’re absolute bee magnets and work well as cut flowers. So if you’re creating a cutting garden, I’d definitely add them to the mix. 

I’ve written extensively about echinaceas before so I won’t say too much here other than another thing in their favour is that they’re what I call a ‘no-nonsense plant.’ They’re easy to look after, they like most soils except extremely dry ones. That said, once they reach maturity I think they’re pretty drought tolerant.

Varieties with pink flowers that I really fancy are Delicious Candy and Mooodz Motivation. The former has fluorescent double pink/magenta flowers with a large orangey-pink cone and it’s quite compact.

Moooddz Motivation has the most delicious salmon pink petals fading to peach plus a hot orange cone tinged with green and pink. I think this echinacea is absolutely stunning and definitely one of the pink flowers I’m going to consider for my border.

5. Penstemon with Pink Flowers

The double frosts we experienced this year played havoc with my penstemons. I lost the lot! But determined to see a silver lining in this gardening disaster, the gap in my sunny border could be an opportunity to replenish my stock of the beauties. I love love love Penstemon Garnet and as pink flowering varieties go it would be top of my list. The perennial is theoretically a red, but to my eye it’s a hot pink. Its dazzling tubular flowers are on display from July right through to October. So it would be perfect for injecting some oomph at this time of year.

Then again I could move away from my favourite as there are lots of other penstemons I could try, such as this hot pink variety above.

For something softer, Penstemon Apple Blossom looks really pretty. Sorry my photo of it isn’t that brilliant, but you may be able to see that it has clusters of small pink bell-shaped blooms with white throats. I can see why it’s been given that name as it really does look like apple blossom.

6. Mound Forming Options

The plants with pink flowers I’ve suggested so far are reasonably talk and not clump forming. But I could go for something which creates more of a mound shape. The ideal candidate might be a hardy geranium. These perennials have saucer-shaped flowers and the good news is that although you can get them in purple, blue and white, they also come in lovely shades of pink.

Two massive benefits of geraniums is that they’re easy to grow and flower for months. That’s not just good for the eye but it also means they offer a long season of pollen and nectar for our precious pollinators, particularly bees.

I think the pink varieties of Geranium x oxonianum ‘Wargrave Pink’, ‘Wageningen’ and ‘Pink Souffle’ would all be massive contenders for my sunny bed. All three forms clumps smothered in clusters of salmon-pink blooms in the summer. Flowering from June right through August.

If you want something a bit different than a geranium and a slightly hotter pink, you could try Helianthemum ‘Ben Hope’. I already have this vigorous evergreen rock rose romping away in a number of spots in the garden and for good reason. It produces a profusion of hot pink coloured saucer shaped flowers with yellow centres, from late spring to mid summer on a mound of lovely deep green leaves.

It would make a lot of sense to pop a clump in the gap in my sunny border. Sorry my photo below isn’t the best as the poor thing has just been drenched!

What’s missing from my list of pink flowers?

Obviously there are lots of plants which produce pink flowers. Indeed, no doubt you are probably shouting that I’ve missed out dahlias, roses, agastaches, veronicas, phlox et al which all come in delicious shades of pink. But looking at the relatively modest space I have available, and the height constraint, I don’t think they would work. But don’t panic I’ll find a lovely excuse to talk about them another time.

Until then – happy gardening x