When I was a kid we had a row or tiny pink and white carnations growing in a garden. With time there was less and less of them and now we have none. The more surprised I was when I saw one growing wild near the woods in a place where nobody maintains the grass.
Dianthus deltoides
It turns out that it is a wild flower that grows natively all over Europe. Just because they are so damn pretty, people started to grow them in gardens, and nurseries started selling them in small pots.
I think the one we had was shorter, so it could be an already hybridized one, but the flowers were nearly identical.
The ones I found were all tangled with grass and other wildflowers, but I don't think the flower stems were longer than 30 cm. Long, narrow leaves typical to carnations and flowers that are around 2 cm in diameter. It's not a big plant, but it's incredibly pretty.
I was secretly hoping to find a little pink crab spider on one of them. Those little beasts hide so well I often spot them only when I start to edit the photos. They pick the flowers where they can blend completely. I never shot a pink yet though.
And even though there were just a few flowers left among all the grasses and dried stems around, they were still very easy to spot. The colour was one of a kind on the whole, big lawn.
Shot with Nikon D5500 + Sigma 105mm lens
All photos and text are my own.
