Rose Pink

This is Rose Pink, Sabatia angularis, the most fragrant summer bloomer on the prairies of Blue Jay Barrens. When a lot of these plants bloom together, the sweet scent is almost overwhelming.

It looks like the Rose Pinks are going to have a very good year. This plant has just begun to bloom and you can see a mass of buds that will soon make this plant a solid mound of pink.

Here’s a plant that’s a bit farther along, but there are still a lot of blooms yet to come.

Rose Pinks can grow in some of the harshest conditions. The plant is a biennial, taking two years to reach the blooming stage. Two good growing seasons in a row can result in the fields being an almost solid pink. This is a more typical year. The plants are plentiful, but not dominant in the landscape.

The flower typically has five petals, but sometimes you’ll find a bloom with six. This abnormality is normally seen as one or two blooms amongst a plant full of normal flowers.

Most plants show a range of characteristics as part of normal genetic variation. I suppose, if Rose Pink were produced commercially, the plant breeders would work hard to perpetuate this six petal variety.