Old fashioned pinks, cottage pinks, old world pinks, garden pinks. All common names for Dianthus. The Greeks called the Pink, 'The Flower of Zeus' or 'The Divine Flower' and the word Dianthus is derived from Dios (God) and Anthos (Flower). Old names for Dianthus include Gillyflower (possibly a corruption of 'July Flower'), and 'Sops in Wine', due to the flowers being used to flavour wine.

Many old varieties of Dianthus have been lost to cultivation but we are doing our best to preserve as many as possible. We have a small range available from our list at any one time but we have a nice selection available at the moment, including:

Gran's Favourite - A vigorous and easy to grow 'Pink'. Pink and white blooms with maroon centre and soft maroon lacing. Very double and very fragrant.

Dad's Favourite - now very rare indeed, it dates from 1780. Discovered in a garden in Northumberland by A.J MacSelf.

Allspice - A lovely old pink, dating from the seventeenth century, which is now very rare. Flowers freely and has a very good scent.

Old Fringed White - Dating from the 17th Century, this wonderful fragrant Pink has very fringed pure white semi-double flowers with a very slight green tinge to the centre.

Whatfield CanCan - one of the Whatfield series of alpine pinks which were bred by Mrs J. Scholfield of Whatfield, near Ipswich and at one point there were over 30 in existence.

Cranmere Pool - A beautiful repeat-flowering Dianthus with very pale pink double flowers, flushed darker towards the centre, which consists of a bright red zone. Clove scented flowers.

The above is a small selection. These can be planted now for a lovely display from next summer. To view all the Dianthus in stock now, use this link or apply the stock filter to the list on our website.