Indian pinks

* Common name: Indian pinks

* 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. One of the best hummingbird-attracting perennials and a good overall pollinator plant.

* 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 is a good gold-leafed shrub partner.