Perennials: Dianthus for 2010 - Anyone?, 1 by BLOSSOMBUDDY

BLOSSOMBUDDY wrote:
Real nice long stems there Jon!

Now about those dianthus...

Annual dianthus are best used where summers are cool. Well, imagine that our summer was cool this year and mine did great! But in your neck of the woods they should do well as a winter annual. Lush growing conditions will cause the plants to become grassy (leggy)! They say full sun is necessary for compact plants.

Well anyway, the guide also says they should be fertilized lightly. I used Oscomote pellets and that worked fine although later in the season I was using chicken poo tea....dint seem to bother mine, but they are leggy now, but I thought that was because they were under the lights.. go figure!

It said nothing on cutting them back, but mine seemed to do great with a shearing about ever 2-3 weeks.

How they will do now in the house is anyones guess. I figure them to die on me or go dormant eventually and not see spring, but time will tell and who knows, if they go dornant, how well they will pop backl and when! I dont know!