In The Pink

Moving on from the yellow theme of yesterday, we move on to those pink flowers which are much in evidence at the moment. Starting with another common plant which seems to be all over the place around the hills of the Sierra Helada and one which will be familiar to most of us. The Common Thyme (Thymus vulgaris).

Fragrant and rather beautiful to look at, you need to get up-close and personal with this one in order to see the tiny flowers at their best.
Anyone who is familiar with British wild flowers, will know the Campions and Catchfly plants which bloom around our countryside in the summer. Over in Benidorm, we found this little member of that family which bizarrely, had both pink and white flowers on the same plant! Silene secundiflora is quite a mouthful for a name for this delicate little plant.

Popular in most British gardens is the Dianthus family which include such flowers as Carnations, Sweet William, etc. A rather scrubby and straggly member of this family was to be found around the hills of Benidorm. Dianthus broteri has the most delicately coloured, pink flowers which look as if they have been torn apart in the wind. A more ragged flower you will not find.

Yet another garden favourite here in Britain is the Gladiolus. Again, there is a wild version to be found in Spain. The field gladiolus (Gladiolus italicus) has very showy, deep pink blooms on architectural stems growing on some very inaccessible parts.

One of the most common flowers of Spain and an iconic image of that country, is the Cistus family of plants. Here, the Grey-leaved Cistus (Cistus albidus) has papery, pink flowers about 4" across with a bright yellow centre of stamens, which make a wonderful show against the pale grey/green leaves.