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 'Mrs Sinkins' is a classic garden 'pink' - with white flowers! They are multi-petalled, ragged edged, and extremely fragrant, so excellent as cut flowers. It was raised by Mrs Sinkins about 100 years ago, and it has been a favourite ever since.