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This week I've been thinking about pinks - or Dianthus if you prefer. I was spurred into this train of thought by the arrival of a catalogue full of the things from a nursery in Sussex. Initially I dismissed pinks as terribly old-fashioned and a bit

. Then it was mostly about greenery, this time it is about flowers.Everything is beginning to explode into colour. Looking out of my office window there is a sea of pink as the Geranium psilostemon and Centranthus ruber are particularly rampant. There is a lone spike

, it boasts the most spectacular colour. The leaves are 70 shades of scarlet, and they contrast with the extraordinary orange seeds and pink seed-pods. The whole plant makes an eyeball-searing spectacle - almost hallucinogenic.In parts of the USA, Euonymus

irises.I digress; my favourite roses at the moment are the Hybrid Musk roses. They were mostly bred by the Rev. Joseph Pemberton in the early 20th Century and make great shrubs and small climbers. They are soft coloured, like cowrie pink 'Penelope', clean

ornamental cabbages with marvellous frilly leaves, in shades ranging from washy pink to beetroot to deep purple, together with larger ornamental kale.The Americans are very keen on ornamental cabbages and use them in quantity for public plantings (and also

with many fingered leaves, which turn yellow and red in autumn. The flowers are white with yellowy centres and these are followed by pink-stained, white berries that hold for most of the winter.Number two: Malus tschonoskii. Nearly perfect for all

sink is the flowering currant with its limply hanging pink flowers. Not only is it extremely boring but the slightest contact with the leaves releases an unmistakable smell of cat pee. (I could just about accept Ribes sanguineum King Edward VII if I

and produce flower after flower until about early December. Perhaps we should be growing more of them. Good garden varieties include 'Clara Curtis' (pink), 'Emperor of China' (double pink) and 'Wedding Day' (white). You can read more about chrysanthemums here.

of flower on Rosa 'Penelope'.Dahlia 'Hillcrest Royal': not a pink for the fainthearted. It is a full-bottomed swaggering pink that can really enliven a dowdy corner where the other plants are suffering from a bit of post-summer tristesse.Dahlia merckii

.But this is no longer enough. Next year I want cornflowers (a pretty easy option: direct sow where you need them in spring) in blue and purple; I yearn for chirpy orange calendulas; I pine for the delicate pink Nicotiana mutabilis and, more than anything, I want