Firestar is a compact dianthus that covers its blue-green, grassy foliage with small scarlet-red flowers, each petal notched and marked with a darker ring. The main flush comes in late spring, with repeat bloom through summer if you shear off spent flowers. The tidy mound stays under a foot tall.

Like all pinks it wants full sun and sharp drainage, and it prefers soil sweetened with a little lime rather than strongly acidic. Use it edging a sunny border, in rock gardens, or in containers. Bees and butterflies visit steadily, and deer usually pass it by.