Plant Library

Other Names:  Border Pinks, Cheddar Pinks

Group/Class:  Elegance Series

Description:

A vigorous, hardy variety presenting lacy, double, lavender-pink blooms on a sturdy, well branched plant; does not require stem support; perfect as a garden or landscape feature, or as a thriller in mixed containers; heat tolerant and flowers all season

Ornamental Features

Elegance Lavender Pinks is smothered in stunning lightly-scented lavender frilly flowers with hot pink overtones and cherry red streaks at the ends of the stems from late spring to early fall, which emerge from distinctive dark red flower buds. The flowers are excellent for cutting. Its attractive narrow leaves remain grayish green in color with hints of powder blue throughout the year.

Landscape Attributes

Elegance Lavender Pinks is an herbaceous evergreen perennial with a mounded form. It brings an extremely fine and delicate texture to the garden composition and should be used to full effect.

This is a relatively low maintenance plant, and is best cleaned up in early spring before it resumes active growth for the season. It is a good choice for attracting bees and butterflies to your yard, but is not particularly attractive to deer who tend to leave it alone in favor of tastier treats. It has no significant negative characteristics.

Elegance Lavender Pinks is recommended for the following landscape applications;

• Mass Planting
• Rock/Alpine Gardens
• Border Edging
• General Garden Use
• Container Planting

Planting & Growing

Elegance Lavender Pinks will grow to be about 14 inches tall at maturity, with a spread of 15 inches. When grown in masses or used as a bedding plant, individual plants should be spaced approximately 12 inches apart. Its foliage tends to remain dense right to the ground, not requiring facer plants in front. It grows at a medium rate, and under ideal conditions can be expected to live for approximately 10 years. As an evegreen perennial, this plant will typically keep its form and foliage year-round.

This plant should only be grown in full sunlight. It prefers to grow in average to moist conditions, and shouldn't be allowed to dry out. It is not particular as to soil type or pH. It is highly tolerant of urban pollution and will even thrive in inner city environments. This particular variety is an interspecific hybrid. It can be propagated by division; however, as a cultivated variety, be aware that it may be subject to certain restrictions or prohibitions on propagation.

Elegance Lavender Pinks is a fine choice for the garden, but it is also a good selection for planting in outdoor pots and containers. It is often used as a 'filler' in the 'spiller-thriller-filler' container combination, providing a mass of flowers and foliage against which the thriller plants stand out. Note that when growing plants in outdoor containers and baskets, they may require more frequent waterings than they would in the yard or garden.