Think pinks: In defence of the Barbie blooms

It's amazing how much little girls like pink. One kid in my street, Caitlin, spends half-terms dressed in various shades of Barbie colours. On her way home from school, she stops to admire my neighbour's pink roses, which hang down over the pavement after the rain, hoping he might let her pick some.

But you don't have to be a pink person to love the flower the colour was, by some accounts, named after. A member of the dianthus family, pinks are always described as "old-fashioned", but whenever someone says this, it makes me scream, as it makes them sound grannyish. The secret of pinks is that every luridly coloured bloom is set off by minimalist spiky foliage, in the most restrained blue-green greys. The combination can hardly be described as grannyish. Unless your granny is Bianca Jagger.

Pinks are also often described as "fussy"; this has slightly more truth in it. Mine seem to survive best grown in pots of half grit, half soil, with another top dressing of gravel on the surface. It's a shame, because one of my earliest gardening memories is an edging of pinks that we had in our little garden when I was a kid. But my soil at home seems to be too rich for them and they die away rapidly. Stick them in very free-draining soil, make sure the foliage never gets damp and feed them properly, and they should last a couple of years at least.

Now somehow I've managed to get four paragraphs into a piece about pinks and I still haven't mentioned the best bit: the scent. Every one is different. Some smell like a 17th-century spice shop (there's that old-fashioned tag again); others have a lighter fragrance, almost verging on jasmine. But all possess proper bee-pulling perfumes that will add the final touch to a sunny day.

There are plenty of places where you can compare lots of pinks. And it's a good idea to do so, not just scent-wise, but also for appearance: some have tiny ruby flowers, others expansive blooms dotted with fuchsia blots. You could head for Allwoods in Sussex (www.allwoods.net), one of the oldest pink-growers in the country, and choose from its "Old World Pinks" dating back to the 1700s; or make an appointment at Southview Nurseries (www.southview nurseries.co.uk) in Hook, Hampshire, which holds the National Collection.

But most pink enthusiasts will be happy with the RHS's Pinks and Carnations Open Day at Wisley on 18 June (www.rhs.org.uk). Public voting will open at 10.30am, when you can pick the pink with the best fragrance. There will also be talks about the flower, while specialist breeders will be selling plants. Maybe I'll bring a couple home for Caitlin.

Doll up your patch: Four perfect pinks

Neon Star

Intense pink with startling grey-green contrast. Won Award of Garden Merit for long-lasting flowers, but its scent is not strong. £1.95, www.whetman.co.uk

Mrs Sinkins

Named after the matron of a 19th-century workhouse, this has an appropriately slightly bossy air with its frilly appearance. Wonderful scent. £3, www.southviewnurseries.co.uk

Dianthus "Allspice"

Fancy-looking, with scarlet and pale pink in gorgeous patterns. Good fragrance too. £2, Kingstone Cottage Plants, tel: 01989 565 267

Musgraves' Pink

Dating back to 1730, this is actually a plain white flower with a green centre, which will please the minimalists no end. Very, very fragrant. £1.95, www.allwoods.net

Read Emma Townshend's new column at blogs.independent.co.uk/independent/a_nice_green_leaf/