The dining was divine, as were the flowers. Though everything about me blazed blue, I was in the pink, feasting upon delicious fare at Blue, surrounded by pinks. Pinks, plural, is the simple name of a superb flower, otherwise called carnation. Some references use the singular pink. Either way, horticulturally speaking, pinks — or carnations — are members of the dianthus genus within the Caryophyllaceae family of plants.

That tongue-twister of a last name has led to the widespread — and acceptable — gardenese shorthand for the clan: the pink family. Ancient, pre-hybrid dianthus buds were pink.

Blue, a trendy restaurant tucked away in the heart of Valparaiso, serves up pinks — fresh carnations — along with fresh fare.

Owners Ken and Julie Varnes make sure each guest’s dining experience includes the requisite retro centerpiece that I especially appreciate — carnations.

Fresh-cut carnations, even more so than roses, make me feel regal. I associate them with grand occasions; roses with love. Rightly so, sir.

Carnations were named dianthus, meaning “divine flower” in classical Greece, the ancient, stately time when pinks are first known to have been cultivated for their beauty and fragrance.

The word carnation contends garden-lore, and is a metamorphosis of the royal word coronation, a crowning event of a sovereign where dianthus were tossed at the feet, twisted into trailing hair boughs and gathered into bouquets.

Even way back then, ancient Greeks knew what the Varneses and other restaurateurs learn quickly. Carnations, pinks or dianthus — whatever you call them — have staying power.

These flowers don’t disappoint, and they don’t make you blue, not even at Blue, where the theme color is the one color not found in carnations — unless they’re dyed powder blue for prom, the primo coronation at the high school level.

Pinks are known and grown for their erect flowers and rigid, upright stems that just don’t droop. Droopy roses make me blue. Carnations keep me in the pink.

Tallest pink varieties, with flowers 2 to 3 inches wide, make up the highest grade, and are readily available year-round.

Wherever planted, pinks need sunshine and mega- drainage, preferably with help from a gritty, water-releasing, sandy soil. If planting starts in pots for propagation from mother plants, add plenty of vermiculite to commercial potting soil for extremely good drainage.

Additionally, carnations, which are graded by their stem length and flower size, prefer alkaline soil. Like sweet alyssum and moss phlox, lower-growing varieties of pinks, such as Sweet William and fringed dianthus superbus, fill in nicely below peonies, gladiolas and tall phlox, all of which require an alkaline soil.

Also called clove pinks in heirloom days, carnations were once grown amid cabbages and onions in the culinary sections of colonial gardens. After the bitter, white centers were removed, petals were brewed with sugar and white wine, creating a syrup that was poured over a dish of fresh fruit.