Dianthus FlowersGrowing Carnations & PinksHow to grow and care for Dianthus flowers. Reliable Dianthus perennials. How to grow different types of carnations. Growing pinks flowers and gardening with Sweet William.
Growing Dianthus
Buy the Dianthus Collection, Fruit Punch Pinks and carnations are both members of the genus Dianthus. Pinks flowers are about an inch across and usually single. Carnations flowers are twice the size and double. All have the signature fringed petals which gave rise to the common name. The flower petals look like they were cut out with pinking shears. Most Dianthus flowers are fragrant. The various types of carnations and pink Dianthus all require the same growing conditions. They like well drained soil with a neutral or slightly alkaline ph. It's not a bad idea to sprinkle a little horticultural lime over the bed before setting the plants in. Dianthus flowers like moist soil but will not tolerate soil that stays too wet. Unless your soil drains perfectly, stem rot may become a problem in rainy weather. Bed the plants out where they will receive at least 6 hours of sunlight per day. These deer resistant plants like cool, humid weather. The newer Dianthus hybrids have been bred to be more heat tolerant than the old standards. You can buy Dianthus,carnaions, or sweet William seed to start your plants. Or you can purchase transplants from a nursery. Once you have the plants in your garden, you can save seed from them to start new plants.
Growing carnations. About planting carnations plants from seed. How to grow carnations, Dianthus caryophyllus, successfully. Carnations care. Pictures of carnations.
Pruning and Deadheading DianthusPhotographic Print You can pinch them off when you are out in the garden admiring and smelling the flowers or you can shear them back by half with a power tool. The foliage is pretty even without the flowers.
Dianthus Perennial Types
Which Dianthus perennials will come back reliably in your yard depends on many things. The most important being the zone you live in. Almost every variety is perennial south of zone 7. But they might succumb to the summer heat in the deep south. Or they might get crown rot during a particularly rainy summer. If you live north of zone 7, the cottage pinks Dianthus plumaris or Dianthus x allwoodii Frosty Fire would be your best bets. Dianthus Zing Rose, one of the maiden pinks would also be a good choice for the perennial garden.
Instructions for gardening with and pruning sweet William flowers. Planting sweet William Dianthus barbatus from seed.
Of the cheddar pinks, Bath's Pink Dianthus gratianopolitanus is the most popular. But Mountain Mist and Firewitch Dianthus are close contenders for this title.
Buy Carnations, Mixed Colors Here Dianthus caryophyllus is the clove-scented florist carnation. All about planting and growing fresh carnations from seed. Enjoy cheap, fragrant bouquets all season long.
Dianthus chinensis is the china pink Dianthus that is sold as an annual bedding plant in the garden centers each spring. It is actually perennial, only unreliably so, in zones 4-11.
Dianthus deltoides is a reliably perennial Dianthus. Commonly known as maiden pinks, the most popular selection is Zing Rose.
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