Bee sleeping in a zinnia flower.

Zingy Pinks

Posted on by Ann Mackay

The colours you tend to associate with late summer and early autumn are mostly reds, oranges and yellows. But there have been some really brilliant pinks around too.

These pink flowers are not pale and delicate – instead they demand attention and can compete with any of the bright flowers around at the end of summer. (I love the softer pinks too, but they would get a bit lost at a time when so many of the other plants are shining so dazzlingly.)

Pink Alstroememria-2913
The rich colours of this alstroemeria add sparkle to garden borders.

Zinnias (top photo) are great to photograph – the colours are vivid and the central boss of the flower has plenty of intricate detail to add interest to the image. I’ve grown them when we lived in Scotland but not yet down here. (Here I’ve mostly planted perennials.) I really should plant some, because the garden gets lots of sun and they should be very happy in our well-drained soil.

Alstoemerias are a satisfying flower to photograph, with their striking markings and depth of colour. They’re not common in gardens here, but I’ve started to see more of them in garden centres. Next year I’ll be tempted to give them a try, especially now that there are some hardier varieties that have a good chance of making it through the winter here. (I’d like to plant a deep pink one, as in the photo above.)

Pink echinacea flower
A slight hint of orange in this echinacea’s pink petals makes them more vibrant.

The echinacea above is one of a group that I bought from a nearby nursery, all in different colours. I think that they are getting used to  me coming in to look for something new to photograph! The echinaceas were fun – big, bold daisies with a lot of presence and very attractive colours. This one has just the tiniest amount of orange in the pink of its petals and that makes the colour shimmer in the sun.

My last flower is probably opening up to be more orange than pink – it would have been interesting to see the fully-open dahlia. But I loved it at this stage, when it was still partly folded up on itself and showing the pink reverse of its petals. The pink and orange together have a great feeling of energy, a really lively sizzle of colour that would add excitement to any border.

This year I’ve been lucky  enough to see lots of lovely plants while I’ve been out visiting gardens. They’ve given me a lot of inspiration for what I’d like to grow here and inspiration for photographs too. There will certainly be room in the garden for some of the more intense pinks!

Dahlia Flower Opening
A two-tone pink and orange dahlia flower gets ready to dazzle.

Published by Ann Mackay

Photographer, mixed-media art adventurer and completely daft about plants.......

18 thoughts on “Zingy Pinks”

    1. Thank you Liz! I appreciate the re-tweet. 🙂 I really need to find out how to use Twitter properly – I used it a bit years ago when I had an Etsy shop, but since then I’ve just managed the occasional re-tweet. Time to do more!

      Liked by 1 person

      1. Now’s the time Ann! Just throw yourself into the conversation.. Damien and I have just linked up on twitter and you never know in what direction tweets are going to go. Yesterday I retweeted a poem and then found the poet is a NZer living on the west coast of Ireland (!) and it was really fun to make that link!

        Liked by 1 person

    1. Thank you Indira! I’d really like to have some of the deep pink alstoemerias and zinnias in the garden next year… 🙂

      Like

    1. That would look spectacular, Shelly! I grew zinnias in our previous garden in Scotland, but haven’t grown many annuals here yet. I’m looking forward to experimenting with them next year. 🙂

      Like

  6. I am a huge Dahlia fan, but Zinnias are very nice too. The Dahlias we have are not near as pink but the Zinnias can be. I don’t think I have ever seen a two-toned Dahlia. Our local Alstoemerias are white. The deep pink makes all these flowers look incredible. Great pix Ann!

    Liked by 1 person

    1. Thanks Syd! 🙂 The dahlia appears to be more orange on the onside of its rolled up petals – I’d love to have seen it fully open to know it it all changed to orange. (The pink might just be on the back of the petals.)

      Liked by 1 person

Leave a comment

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.