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Dianthus microlepis

Caryophyllaceae

Dianthus microlepis var. degenii

Habitat: alpine pastures

Flowering: early summer

Height: 10 cm

Width: 15 cm

Soil: gritty, best lime-free

The alpine Dianthus are amongst the staples of the rock garden, providing lots of reliable colour after the first flush of spring flowers has passed. They form neat cushions of thin, pointed leaves, blue-grey in the majority of species, and have short stems, each with a few, wide-open, five-petalled flowers, mostly in the white-pink-red colour range. With over 100 European species, identification is often tricky.

Dianthus microlepis is an excellent plant for a trough or raised bet, originating from Bulgaria. It makes a low cushion of short, very narrow leaves, usually silvery grey but sometimes more green. The cushion can be covered with short-stemmed flowers, rich pink or with a bit of purple in them.
9 cm pot £3.00

		Dianthus arenarius has narrow, grassy, dark green leaves and rather long stems, with large white flowers, the petals of which are deeply and repeatedly divided, to give an unusual feathery appearance.
		Dianthus arpadianus comes from Greece and Turkey, where it is hot and dry in the summer. It makes a low mat of silvery grey rosettes of leaves, with just a few leaves on the short stems. The flowers are rosy pink, but with a yellowish shade to them.
		Dianthus barbatus SDR6404 is the wild species from which the familiar garden Sweet William have been derived. It has dense clusters of flowers, which are red with a white base, and have sharply serrated edges to the petals.
		Dianthus 'Blue Hills' can make wide mats of broad (for a Dianthus) glaucous foliage, which can be covered with mid pink flowers. It looks great over the edge of a rock.
		Dianthus deltoides 'Albus' has small white flowers smothering the mounds of fresh green foliage in late spring.
		Dianthus freynii is a low plant with grey-green foliage that is covered by the white or pink flowers in late spring.
		Dianthus freynii var. nana blooms with multitudes of pink flowers that completely cover the tight grey-green foliage in early summer. An excellent trough plant.
		Dianthus furcatus is delightfully described by Google's automatic translation from the French: "This eyelet of the dry lawns has a rather short and narrow chalice and broad scales equalizing at least one the length third of the chalice. In the department, it meets only in the accesses of the collar of Var." I think that gives some idea of the plant, but it fails to mention that the chalices are pale pink, and that it comes from the Hautes Alpes of France.
		Dianthus 'Fusilier' has bright red flowers that contrast very well with the silvery, spiky foliage.
		Dianthus giganteus is rather like a much larger version of Dianthus carthusianorum, double the height and with much broader leaves (although at 8 mm they are still not really wide). There are many bright pink flowers with dark red calyces in each flower head, so it is a very attractive ornamental plant.
		Dianthus gratianopolitanus is a rare British native (the Cheddar Pink), although widespread across Europe, with grey-green foliage, and solitary deep rose pink flowers on the upright stems.
		Dianthus gratianopolitanus 'Karlik' is a particularly lovely selection of the Cheddar Pink. It has large fringed flowers, bright pink with a ring of even deeper pink round the centre of the petals, and for good measure has a strong fragrance.
		Dianthus haematocalyx subsp. pindicola is one of the best alpine pinks, from the Balkans. Slowly spreading mats of grey-green pointed leaves are obscured in season by the lovely pink flowers.
		Dianthus microlepis f. albus has neat mats of needle-fine, deep green leaves and white flowers, on short stems, in summer. Excellent for troughs.
		Dianthus 'Neon Star' is a lovely small dianthus with brilliant, glowing deep pink flowers over grey foliage.
		Dianthus 'Night Star' has maroon-coloured petals with pale pink markings and pale pink serrated edges.
		Dianthus nivalis has lots of beautifully scented, small pink flowers, which cover the tight and spiny blue-green mound of foliage.
		Dianthus 'Pink Jewel' is one of the nany hybrids that have been produced (the morals of dianthi are distinctly suspect). This one has double flowers, pink and quite small.
		Dianthus stramineus is a Turkish species with low-growing tufts of foliage and white, fringed flowers.