I have 2 beautiful perennial dianthus that has all the bloom gone and the plant looks terrible. I planted these from seed last year and when in full bloom, they were beautiful. Do I cut them back severely or will they clean themselves out for another bloom. Here is a picture of them while in bloom.
Ayah
This is one of my dianthus that was planted last year and survived the winter. They have been beautiful this summer. I just cut them back hard, all but one that I will save seeds from.
I actually thought I had planted annual dianthus, was very surprised to see they came back and especially the size they were this year. I will try cutting them back and see if I can force a second bloom.
I wonder if you planted biennial dianthus? I have some of them that I planted last year and it sounds like mine are just about in the same shape as yours- the foliage looks horrible. But I can't cut them down if I want them to reseed for next year.
I didn't know there was a biennial Dianthus- mine were labeled Raspberry surprise- planted last summer and stayed alive through winter, and in the spring I cut back the winterkill, and they were beautiful this year. Now they look terrible, and instead of nursing them another year, I just bought some replacements- 2 6packs, and will start over and see if I get the same next year. My present plants look really over the hill!
Hm, I thought the same thing as Ayah . . . planted a bunch of small ones last year as annuals. I pulled most of them out during fall clean-up, but there were 3 still blooming in October so I left them alone. They all came back this spring, 2 of them quite vigorously, and bloomed gorgeously. I wasn't sure what to do with them when they were done so I just cut them all back the other day. We'll see what happens. Since I wasn't planning on them being perennial I won't be terribly heartbroken if I get nothing more from them.
I have some that lasted for two years, but most of them did not survive for a third.
I planted them spring of 2007, spring of 2008 they were all back and beautiful, but this year almost nothing.
Dianthus are mostly a cool weather flower, and they are biennial. Cut back now and hope for some fall blooms, and plan on replanting every 2 years.
What about if you get cuttings from the mother plant?
I've never tried getting cuttings, but my guess would be that they would still play out their biennial destiny. I plant dianthus early spring, and when they start petering out in the summer, I overplant them with periwinkle (flowering vinca), which provides color for the hot months and into the fall. BTW, if you keep the dianthus deadheaded, it will keep putting out new blooms until hot weather. You can actually just shear them off and they come back quickly. I shear just one small area at a time so I am never completely without color.
Penzzer, there are certainly a lot of biennial dianthus, but there are also a lot of perennial ones.
I planted dianthus that I grew from seed for the first time last year. I was surprised to see how nice they looked this spring.
Las, thanks for correcting me. I have grown dianthus all my life and have never had any that lasted more than 2 years. I researched a bit after reading your note and found some names of perennials....
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I don't find these names at our nurseries. Maybe it's just too hot here.
Well, I cut back the plants and will wait to see what happens with a rebloom. I did not know they were biennial. I am going to check the seed catalog to see what the name of these were. Thanks for all the replies to my question. I'm new here and sometimes forget to check out my own posts.
Ayah
Ayah, if you hit your Home tab everytime you come to the forum, any threads you've been on that have been updated will be listed there. Makes it easier to keep track!
Just wanted to say that the seeds I planted were called Dulce and they came from Park Seed.
Ayah
I have multiple varieties of dianthus. Following the first full bloom, I shear off all the blooms. Not the plant, only the stems holding the blooms. Most dianthus gives me another wave of blooms. Oh, continue to feed.
I have 5 or 6 varieities of Perennial Dianthus. After each bloom, if sheared back they will bloom again. Repeat again and again and you should get sporadic reblooms.
I just stumbled upon this thread... and think I need to get more dianthus.. Do you all have more images? Would love to see them.
Pictures? Oh sure.... Neon Star, one of the round-clump-of-gray-foliage plants.
All the shades of pink in the frontof this bed are dianthus and perennial.
These are of the parfait series sold as annuals here but always come back for me. This group is at least 4 years old .
The photo above is not a group I misspoke it is a single plant.
This is the biannual type often referred to as sweet williams.
Sweet williams again.
Here they seem to be taller and most definitely have a different leaf type.
The deep red one is called'' sooty''
They are easy to start with the winter sow method, they will also reseed but I usually fail to recognize the seedlings and they get pulled.
These are also perennial here. I call them the ''carnation type'' because of there flower, but I think they are called'' clove pinks''by most. Some have a nice spicy smell thus the (clove ) reference.
They bloom later than the ones I posted above. For me in mid June after the others are gone.
Just added this one last year from bluestone
Called Horatio
