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Deptford pink (Dianthus armeria) is a plant that I would not be without in my garden, though I must confess, I am not entirely sure why. It's an annual member of the genus Dianthus – to which sweet williams, carnations and border pinks belong, but rather than producing lusty clumps and mats of flowers, this is a wispy annual: think tall, gangly sweet william rather than garden pink. It is valuable, at least in theory, for its fine veil of airy stems through which other plants can be spied, much like Verbena bonariensis and Gillenia trifoliata, and yet the effect is just too sparse: its summer-long flowering season is only achieved through the production of a meagre handful of flowers at any one time. Oh, and it lacks that rich velvety fragrance of sweet williams, or the clove-and-carnation scent of summer-warmed border pinks. Yet it still has a beauty, and this lies in the elegance of the individual flowers. These are a starburst of intense raspberry-red petals, each flecked with white scales in the manner of a butterfly's wing, and encircling anthers in a moody shade of slate-blue.
Its English name, coined in Gerard's Herball of 1633, is something of a misnomer, for as writers such as Richard Mabey have commented since, the evocative description – of "a Wilde creeping Pinke ... which has many small tender leaues ... which lie flat vpon the ground" – must surely refer to the closely related maiden pink. The Deptford variety, as we have seen, doesn't creep flat upon the ground, and so may have never occurred in the fields beyond London's East End.
Perhaps a more appropriate name might have been Buckfastleigh pink, for it is in and around this small south Devon town that the species is most plentiful today as a wild plant. It grows on the warm hill slopes below the church, and along footpaths that crisscross the outskirts of town. But its best site is an unprepossessing rocky road cutting, sandwiched between industrial complex and modern housing, where the pink flowers in its thousands. The species is also a recent colonist on the verge of the nearby A38 as it sweeps beyond Bucktfastleigh towards Ashburton. At the Peartree Junction – by the eastbound exit, if you want to dice with death – a colony of a few hundred plants flourishes in thin, open turf.
When the road was constructed in the 1960s, the public were rightly horrified as bulldozers ripped through this mellow South Hams landscape of copse and hilly field. Yet, over the decades that followed, many of these verges have transformed themselves into floral feasts worthy of a nature reserve. At Peartree alone, exuberant displays of primrose, early purple orchid, wild columbine, ox-eye daisy and marsh orchid follow one another in orderly succession as the early summer progresses. On my last visit, I even managed to find four small bushes of the rare mezereon, the first wildlings for Devon after an absence of some 75 years.
Now if you put such floral exuberance down to mere chance you would be much mistaken. For starters, the thin, starved and baked soils of the new road cuttings provide ideal conditions for the development of sparse, flower-rich grassland. Deprived of an abundance of nutrients, no single coarse-growing species can take hold, while the abundance of bare, earthy and stony ground provides an ideal nursery bed in which weaker-growing seedlings can establish.
But it's not just the poor soil that makes this road so special for flowers. The local Highways Agency - guided by their ecologist Leo Gubert - annually cuts and rakes the grass from long stretches of verge along this expressway. An annual equivalent of a hay crop sucks the fertility from soil and vegetation alike, and stops the buildup of a thatch of dead grass that can smother more delicate and desirable species. And a vigorous short, back and sides creates an abundance of scuffs and divots into which flowers can seed. If you want to create wild and flowery meadowland in your garden, you wouldn't go far wrong emulating these management principles (a subject that I am sure we shall return to in a future post).
Now, here is the extraordinary thing: today, every road junction along this particular highway boasts at least one species of orchid among a welter of other beautiful flowers – a world away from the destruction wrought during the 1960s. So rather than lambasting our big highways, perhaps we should raise a glass to Mr Gubert and the unsung heroes at the Highways Agency. Even in times of austerity, the team did its annual hay cut last winter and now the verges look more flowery than ever, providing an ever-more desirable home for the Deptford pink, whilst making my car journeys immeasurably more pleasurable.
If you enjoy particularly flowery displays of wild plants on verges near your home, or think that your local council or highways agency does a fine job of protecting these ribbons of colour through our landscape – or conversely has just scythed them down in their floriferous prime - then Plantlife wants to know more. The wild flower charity has just launched its Flowers on the Edge campaign and would love to hear from you.
Andy Byfield is one of the founders of the wild plant charity Plantlife.
Comments
21 June 2012 12:22PM
Deptford Pink is one of many native wildflowers that thrives on green roofs and is seen on many across the UK - so the picture is not as gloomy as might be thought.
We plant with this and others across London and the South - the low-nutrients conditions of roadside verges are very similar to the lightweight growing media that are used in rooftop growing, which makes green roofs an excellent way of protecting these otherwise dwindling species, as well as increasing urban biodiversity by providing forage for pollinators
21 June 2012 12:33PM
I'd love to have some growing on my green roof. Anyone know how easy it is to grow from seed, and where I can source some?
21 June 2012 1:47PM
Hi Jane
Very easy, sow on raked substrate mixed with a little sand to put off birds eating - best time is Sept/Oct. We use English Cottage Nursery Ltd for a lot of our seeds - ask for Teresa!
Lee
There are some others here http://www.organicroofs.co.uk/green-roofs/living-roof-plants/
21 June 2012 1:47PM
http://www.organicroofs.co.uk/green-roofs/living-roof-plants/