Dianthus Cocktail Shirley Temple ='Wp15 Pie44' (p)

Description: Dianthus 'Shirley Temple' is a charming and reliable garden pink, prized for its beautifully formed, fully double flowers in soft blush-pink tones that gracefully fade to white as they mature. With a delightful clove-like fragrance, this classic cottage garden perennial is perfect for filling borders, edging pathways, or adding long-lasting colour and scent to patio containers. The neat, compact mound-forming habit and attractive silvery blue-green evergreen foliage ensure year-round garden interest, even when the plant is not in flower. Hardy and low-maintenance once established, it thrives in free-draining conditions and does not tolerate waterlogged ground. Regular deadheading throughout the summer flowering season encourages further flushes of blooms, whilst a light trim after flowering maintains a tidy, compact shape. Avoid heavy mulching around the crown. This variety is particularly suited to South England's chalky and well-drained soils, and attracts bees, butterflies and other beneficial pollinators to the garden.

Other benefits: evergreen, borders, rock-gardens, containers, cut-flowers, cottage-garden

Position: full sun

Winter hardiness: cold hardy to -10°C