Categories: Flower Gardens

Pink and Pastel Flowers in Garden Design

A gardener who wants to devote part of her garden to a pink border has many plant choices. Pink, as a feminine color, lends a sense of youthful charm to the garden. The well-planned pink garden is not just pretty, but is soft, restful and easy on the eyes. For thousands of years, from the time of the early Romans to the days of Shakespeare and onward, gardeners have considered pink flowers to be the finest color in the garden.

Balance the Flower Colors

For the best effect, pink flowers need to be balanced with flora and fauna in other soft shades. The pink flower border should also include plants with silvery foliage, and plants with white, cream or mauve flowers. And since there are many shades of pink, it’s more advantageous to mix those pink shades. When this is done well, the garden will still appear to be a pink garden, but it won’t look like rows of cotton candy at the fair.

Planning the Pink Flower Garden

When planting a pink flower garden, place the smaller plants in groups of three or five so that both the plants and the colors have some substance. Taller pink plants for the back of the border, like delphiniums for instance, are best planted in drifts mixed with white and mauve delphiniums or tall phlox. Another addition at the back of the border might include the white Baby’s Breath or gypsophila paniculata. Its lacy, billowy appearance will play up the feminine scene and help to balance the colors.

Under-planting Flowering Shrubs

If the border is to include flowering shrubs, consider under-planting them with low-growing plants like mother-of-thyme, lavender and thrift. There are numerous shrubs with pink flowers, but most will flower only in the spring. Rose shrubs like the pink rugosa, Sarah Van Fleet, along with a huge assortment of hybrid tea roses, will take over the succession of color when the pink lilacs and wigelia of spring have finished flowering. And these rose varieties offer repeat-flowering that will add to the beauty of the pink border on and off throughout the summer.

Pink gardens and gardens devoted to a particular color theme are fun to plan. When the snow is still falling outside, the gardener can pull all her gardening books and catalogs off the shelf to plan her new border. Study the plant’s attributes, like its ultimate height and width, flowering times, soil and moisture requirements, as well as what is necessary for the plant’s general care and maintenance. This information can assist the gardener in creating a pink garden with a succession of color throughout the growing season.

Further Reading