Deptford pink

How to recognise it

Habit

Annual or biennial plant, 30–60 cm tall, with one or a few stiff, upright stems that branch a little at the top. In the first year often just a low rosette.

Leaf

Narrow and linear, 3–8 cm long, dark green and finely hairy; opposite, with each pair joined around the stem at the base.

Flower

Small, about 1 cm across, with five toothed, vivid pink to carmine petals finely dotted with white. They sit a few together in tight heads, surrounded by long, narrow, hairy bracts roughly as long as the calyx.

Fruit/Seed

An elongated capsule inside the persistent calyx, opening at the top with four teeth. The seeds are small, flat and black.

Stem

Stiff, round, with clear nodes and hairy, especially near the top; hence the Dutch and French names meaning ‘hairy pink’.

Look-alikes

Carthusian pink has larger flowers in heads with brown, papery bracts and is hairless. Maiden pink has single, larger flowers with a dark ring and forms mats. Proliferous pink has tiny pale pink flowers between brown, papery bracts. Garden sweet William has broad leaves and large, flat flower clusters.

Flowering: June–August · Pruning: September

Why grow it?

• The vivid pink flowers open from June to August, in high summer, when many spring flowers are over.
• The nectar lies deep inside a long calyx tube: mainly butterflies and moths with a long tongue can reach it.
• A rare wild pink: a few plants in your garden help a species that finds less and less room in the wild.
• Ideal for poor, dry spots where few other plants thrive: a sunny bank, a gravel garden or the edge of a sandy path.
• It self-seeds on bare ground, so a handful of seed can give a lasting population with little effort.

Deptford pink: where does it grow best?

• In the wild: dry, grassy verges, field margins, railway banks, open patches in dry grassland and sunny edges of woods and hedges.
• It needs bare ground to germinate: in dense, tall grass it disappears after a few years.
• In the garden: full sun, on dry to moderately dry, free-draining soil; sand, loamy sand or gravel, poor to moderately fertile.
• Lovely in a poor wildflower meadow, a gravel garden, on a sunny bank or along a sandy path.

Goes well with

• Maiden pink: A related wild pink that grows in the same dry, sunny places and forms low mats.
• Bird’s-foot trefoil: Yellow flowers at the same time, and a food plant for the common blue butterfly.
• Wild marjoram: Flowers in July–August, draws lots of butterflies and also likes dry soil.
• Brown knapweed: Purple knapweed heads in the same poor meadow.
• Harebell: Delicate blue bells on dry, poor soil.

Deptford pink: when and how to plant it?

1. Buy seed or young plants from a nursery specialising in native plants. Never take plants or seed from the wild: populations are small and vulnerable.
2. Sow in September–October or March–April directly where it is to grow, on bare, weed-free ground. Press the seed in and cover it with no more than a thin layer of sand.
3. If you sow into existing grass, first scratch open a few bare patches or lift some turf.
4. Plant young plants in spring or early autumn, in groups of 5–10, 15–20 cm apart.
5. Water during dry spells for the first few weeks; after that it looks after itself.
6. As an annual or biennial it has to re-seed every year, so let the seed capsules ripen.

Care

Watering

Only after sowing or planting, in dry weather. Established plants cope well with dry summers.

Feeding

Do not feed. On rich soil grass and other plants soon outgrow it; poor soil keeps it strong.

Mowing

In a wildflower meadow, mow only in September, when the seed is ripe and shed. Remove the cuttings. On richer soil you can also give a short cut in March, while the rosettes are still low.

Bare ground

After mowing, scratch open the soil here and there so the seed has somewhere to germinate. A few molehills or bare patches help too.

Self-seeding

Leave the stems with their capsules until they turn brown and shake them over bare ground.

Tip: Every autumn after mowing, scratch open a few palm-sized patches of bare soil and shake the ripe seed capsules over them: that way this short-lived pink stays in your garden for years.

Pruning and mowing

Pruning months: September.

When: In September, once the seed has ripened and dropped.

How:

• Leave the flowering stems after flowering until the capsules are brown and open at the top.
• Shake the stems out or leave the cuttings on the ground for a few days so the seed falls out; then remove them.
• You can leave some of the dry stems standing all winter as shelter for small insects.
• Do not mow or cut the green rosettes of young plants: they will flower next year.

Caution: Do not mow in June or July: you would lose both flowers and seed, and the plant would vanish within a year or two.

Pruning: when and how · Pruning calendar and basic rules

Propagation

Seed

The only real method. Sow in September–October or March–April on bare ground or in a pot of sandy seed compost. The seed usually germinates readily, within 2–4 weeks. Plants from spring sowings often flower the following year.

Self-sown seedlings

In an open, sunny spot it seeds itself. Move young rosettes in autumn or early spring with a good root ball.

Deptford pink: how does it get through the winter?

Hardy to −25 °C.

• Plants that germinated in summer or autumn overwinter as a small green rosette and flower the following year.
• Plants that have flowered die after setting seed; their dry stems often stand into winter.
• Hardy to about −25 °C; waterlogged soil in winter does more harm than frost.

Diseases and pests

• Disappears after a few years: Usually because there is no bare ground left for seedlings. Scratch open patches every year and mow late.
• Smothered by grass: On rich soil grass grows too fast. Mow and remove the cuttings to make the soil poorer, or sow in a poorer spot.
• Slugs: They sometimes eat seedlings and young rosettes. Sow a little more thickly and let hedgehogs, ground beetles and toads do their work.
• Rotting rosettes: On wet, heavy soil the rosettes rot in winter. Choose a free-draining spot or mix sand into the soil.

Through the year

• March: Sowing on bare ground is still possible. Rosettes are growing.
• April: Plant out young plants. Keep bare patches open.
• June: Flowering begins. Do not mow.
• July: Full flower. Watch for butterflies on the flowers.
• August: Last flowers and ripening seed capsules.
• September: Collect or shake out seed. Mow and remove the cuttings. Sow.
• October: Sow or move young rosettes.
• November: Rest: small green rosettes overwinter.

Did you know?

• The name ‘Deptford pink’ refers to Deptford, now part of London. According to some botanists, the herbalist John Gerard actually described a different pink there in the late 16th century, so the name ended up on the wrong species.
• The genus name Dianthus comes from Greek and means ‘flower of Zeus’.
• Despite its bright colour, Deptford pink often pollinates itself, so even a single isolated plant can set seed.