Indian pinks
* Common name: Indian pinks
A patch of Indian pinks blooming in June at Chantlcleer gardens in Wayne, Pa.
* Botanical name: Spigelia marilandica
* What it is: A little-known and under-used native perennial flower that produces bicolor blood-red, tubular, upright flowers with yellow petals emerging from the tips. June is the peak month for bloom, but these often will rebloom if spent flowers are clipped.
Indian pinks are excellent hummingbird-attracting perennials and a good overall pollinator plant. The species earned a 2023 Gold Medal from the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society.
‘Little Redhead’ is a particularly heavy-blooming variety.
* Size: 18 to 24 inches tall, space 2 feet apart.
* Where to use: Versatile enough to grow anywhere from full sun to full shade, but performs best in damp, mildly acidic soil in dappled light or in morning sun and afternoon shade. Excellent in woodland borders or massed in any part-shade perennial garden.
* Care: Keep consistently damp the first season, then soak weekly during dry weather. Scatter a balanced, acidifying, organic granular fertilizer over the bed early each spring. Snip off flower stems after bloom to encourage more flowering. Cut all frost-killed growth to the ground at winter’s end. Can be divided in early spring before new growth begins.
* Great partner: Pairs nicely with golden-tinted, part-shade grassy perennials, such as golden sedge or golden Japanese forest grass. Tiger Eyes sumac or Lemony Lace elderberry are good gold-leafed shrub partners.