Dianthus Chinensis: Indian and China Pink Perennials
INDIAN PINK, CHINESE PINK
Dianthus chinensis (China Pink; Chinese: shi zhu) is a species of Dianthus native to northern China, Korea, Mongolia, and southeastern Russia. It is a herbaceous perennial plant growing to 30–50 cm tall. The leaves are green to greyish green, slender, 3–5 cm long and 2–4 mm broad. The flowers are white, pink, or red, 3–4 cm diameter, produced singly or in small clusters from spring to mid summer.
Most of the 300 species of carnations are perennials. This is also true of Dianthus chinensis, which does indeed come from China. It has been popular there for centuries and was crossed and selected, so that many cultivars were created. Modern seed improvers have added hundreds more. In The Netherlands, Indian pinks are always grown as annuals.
From April, they are marketed on a vast scale for filling flower-beds and containers. Seed companies make every effort to produce increasingly compact varieties, sometimes only 6 in high. It is good for growers who can sell a lot of plants to cover a small area, but sad for plant lovers. It is widely cultivated as an ornamental plant, both in China and elsewhere across temperate regions of the world; numerous cultivars have been selected for garden use.
Indian pinks like a partially shady or sunny position and normally moist soil, preferably containing lime. They tolerate a little frost and may therefore be planted out-of-doors as early as April. Many varieties do not flower for long, although there may be a second flowering if they are looked after properly. You can also sow Indian pinks yourself. They will need two to three months to come into flower. Sow indoors for early flowering, or outdoors from April onwards. Dianthus chinensis ‘Color Magician’ has flowers in a special mixture of white and colors varying between pink and bright rose red. The plants grow to about 12 in in height. Dianthus chinensis ‘Ideal Rose’ grows to about 8 in high and is a compact plant which bears violet-pink flowers and goes on flowering for a reasonably long time. Dianthus chinensis ‘Parfait Strawberry’ is another compact plant from the Aristo Series and grows to 6-10 in in height. It has attractive greyish-green foliage. The flowers have red centers surrounded by white tinged with red to a greater or lesser extent. Dianthus chinensis Telstar Purple Picotee’ is still a dwarf, although it grows to 10 in tall. Things went slightly wrong when this variety was named: the term “picotee” is used to denote flowers with petals edged in a distinctly contrasting color, but this is not at all true of ‘Purple Picotee’ with its rose-red centers which gradually change to white. The Telstar Series is well known for its relatively large flowers. Flowering starts early and continues for some time, although there are considerable differences between the various cultivars in this respect.
