Garden style
The Pink Border: A Soft, Romantic Planting in Every Shade of Pink
Soft, romantic, and endlessly pretty. A border in every shade of pink, from pale blush to deep magenta.
Pink is the most romantic color in the garden, and the most versatile. It runs from the palest blush through clear rose to deep magenta, and almost all of it sits happily together, which makes a pink border one of the easiest single-color schemes to pull off and one of the prettiest.
The trick is to use the whole range, soft pinks for romance, hot pinks for energy, and to weave in silver and burgundy foliage so it never turns saccharine. Build from the full list of pink flowers.
Pink perennials for summer
These are the backbone of the border, flowering for weeks in every shade from soft rose to deep pink.
Paeonia 'Sarah Bernhardt'
Huge, ruffled, sweetly fragrant double blooms in soft rose, the classic pink peony.
Phlox paniculata
Fragrant domes of pink in high summer that fill the border with color and scent.
Echinacea purpurea 'Magnus'
Big rose-pink daisies on a tough native that pollinators adore and finches feed on later.
Anemone hupehensis
Elegant pink saucers on tall wiry stems that carry the pink into fall, even in part shade.
Hibiscus moscheutos
Dinner-plate pink flowers on a hardy perennial for a spectacular late-summer finish.
Penstemon
Spires of tubular pink bells that hummingbirds love, blooming for weeks in early summer.
Spires, spring pinks, and softer notes
Add height and stretch the season earlier with these, including a few for the shadier parts of the border.
Digitalis
Tall pink spires freckled inside, self-seeding happily and drawing bumblebees up each stem.
Dianthus
Clove-scented pinks in every shade, a neat and fragrant edge for the front of the border.
Astilbe
Feathery pink plumes that light up a damp, shady spot where other pinks will not grow.
Lamprocapnos spectabilis
Arching stems hung with rose-pink lockets, one of the loveliest sights of spring shade.
Lupinus 'The Chatelaine'
Spires packed with pink-and-white pea flowers in early summer, pure cottage romance.
Pink roses and shrubs
A few shrubs and a rose give the pink border its structure and some of its best scent.
Rosa 'Ausbord'
A glorious pink English rose with rosette blooms and possibly the finest scent of any rose.
Rosa 'The Fairy'
Cascading sprays of small soft-pink flowers from summer to fall on an easy, tough shrub.
Hydrangea macrophylla
Big pink mopheads in neutral to alkaline soil, a romantic border staple.
Weigela florida
Arching branches lined with rosy-pink trumpets in late spring, beloved by hummingbirds.
Spiraea japonica 'Anthony Waterer'
Flat clusters of deep rose-pink over neat foliage through summer, easy and reliable.
Pink bulbs
Bulbs bring pink to the border in spring and again in the heat of summer.
Tulipa 'Pink Impression'
Large, weather-proof pink tulips that naturalize and return for years.
Dahlia
Pink dahlias in every form, flowering from midsummer to frost and wonderful for cutting.
Lilium
Huge, intensely fragrant pink blooms that perfume the whole garden in midsummer.
Allium 'Millenium'
Rosy-pink globes in late summer that bees swarm, when most alliums are long gone.
Keep pink from turning sweet
A whole border of soft pink can tip into too-sweet. Anchor it with silver foliage and a few touches of deep burgundy or near-black leaves, let in some clear white, and the pinks will read as elegant rather than sugary.
What flowers are pink for a garden?
Peonies, phlox, coneflowers, japanese anemones, and hardy hibiscus cover summer, with roses, hydrangeas, and weigela as shrubs and tulips, dahlias, and lilies for bulbs.
How do I design a pink garden?
Use the full range from pale blush to magenta, repeat a few key plants, and weave in silver and burgundy foliage with touches of white so it stays elegant rather than sugary.
What pink flowers bloom all summer?
Coneflowers, phlox, hardy geraniums, roses like The Fairy, and dahlias all flower for months, and japanese anemones carry the pink right into fall.
Design a garden with these plants
Open BloomsEye Studio with this guide's plants ready to drop onto a plan, then watch the whole bed bloom across the year.