By Ann Marie VanDerZanden

Associate Professor of Horticulture

Iowa State University

Pink is my favorite color. I like it in just about every form, and I particularly delight in how it looks in my garden. If you decide to add pink to your garden, you  can choose from flowers that are the softest pastel pink to the deepest bright fuchsia, and every shade in between.

Unlike other colors such as purple, red and yellow, which can be seen in a plant’s leaves, stems and fruit, as well as its flowers, pink is most commonly found just in flowers. Even so, there are number of plant choices in the pink palette including trees, shrubs and perennials. To help guide your pink plant selection, I have compiled a short list of great choices for our growing conditions here in the Midwest.

Trees

Eastern redbud (Cercis canadensis) has bright deep pink flowers early in the spring before the leaves emerge. There are also a number of crabapples (Malus) that have pink buds and or flowers including Adam’s crabapple, Camelot crabapple, and Pink Princess crabapple.

Shrubs

Lilacs including ‘Miss Kim’ (Syringa patula ‘Miss Kim’) and the Preston lilac (Syringa x prestoniae) cultivars ‘Minuet,’ ‘James MacFarlane’ and ‘Miss Canada’ all provide a range of pink flowers during late spring.

Perennials

Spring blooming creeping phlox or moss phlox (Phlox subulata) creates a much welcomed splash of color first thing in the spring. Later in the spring the unique pink tinged flowers of Astrantia major ‘Rosea’ or ‘Rosensymphonie,’ greater masterwort, will provide an interesting bloom well into July.

Throughout the summer pink can be added to the garden by using Croftway Pink monarda (Monarda didyma ‘Croftway Pink’) and a variety of astilbes including Astilbe x arendsii ‘Bressingham Beauty’ Astilbe x arendsii ‘Cattleya’ and Astilbe ‘Jump & Jive.’ Eva Cullum garden phlox (Phlox paniculata) has clear pink blooms with a dark pink middle which can create a striking show when used in masses. And obviously, no discussion of pink in the landscape is complete with out considering the diverse group of pinks (Dianthus). Cultivars such as ‘Pink Jewel,’ ‘Monica Wyatt,’ ‘Houndspool Ruby,’ ‘Bovey Belle’ and ‘Becky Robinson’ will provide summer long color. The 2006 Perennial Plant of the Year, as selected by the Perennial Plant Association was Firewitch cheddar pink (Dianthus gratianopolitanus ‘Feuerhexe’) and is certainly worth considering for your garden.   

I think peonies (Paeonia) are the best example of a plant that provides the full spectrum of pink hues in the landscape. There are a number of peony cultivars to choose from that have flowers in different shades of pink and I have listed just a few here. For light pink flowers consider ‘Heart Throb,’ ‘Angel Face,’ ‘Bessie,’ ‘Bric a Brac’ and ‘Serene Pastel.’ If you prefer medium pink flowers choose ‘Circus Circus,’ ‘Fancy Nancy,’ ‘Pink Spritzer,’ ‘She’s My Star’ or ‘The Fawn.’ And if you want a deep pink flower select ‘Bestman,’ ‘Cincinnati,’ ‘Raspberry Charm’ or ‘Rose Gnome.’ If you can’t decide which is your favorite shade of pink, choose ‘Raspberry Clown’ or ‘Raspberry Splash’ since these two cultivars have all three colors in a single flower.

In the autumn garden, pink generally takes on a deep rich tone. Fall-blooming asters and chrysanthemums and the unique pinkish hued foliage of ornamental kale (Brassica) are great ways to create end of season color. Two Aster novae-angliae cultivars to include are ‘Harrington’s Pink’ and ‘Barr’s Pink.’ Aster novi-belgii cultivars such as ‘Apple Blossom,’ ‘Lassie,’ ‘Carnival,’ ‘Fellowship.’ ‘Patricia Ballard’ and ‘Orlando’ will also create a striking display in your fall garden.

Although the list of plants I have included here is limited, it should still provide a variety of possibilities when it comes to choosing plants with pink flowers for your garden. A little pink in the spring, summer and fall is a great addition to just about every garden.

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