Dianthus like our cool moist soil, and this Dianthus superba is no exception. I first purchased seed about three years ago, and now I collect my own seed each fall. The mix includes dark lavender, white, lt. pink, and a deep pink. When they are in bloom, they are about 14-18 inches tall.
They display best when in groupings, or when displayed with other perennials with the same bloom time, since the individual blooms look "ragged" when viewed alone.
I love these but they just won't grow well for me :( One day I envisage the entire garden will be concreted over and given to container growing LOL.
Thanks for the pic!
WZ, dianthus does well here in the spring...dies back in the summer, and tries a comeback in the fall.
"eyes"
Oh these are beautiful. i sowed some and had lovely groups both in my garden and my Mum's. In her garden they were there the following year too - don't know if that was self seed or if they'd survived over winter. I didn't save seed unfortunately.
The scent's gorgeous :-9
Philomel: The climate must be quite different between your garden and Baas. I'm geography impaired, so I married a man that has done some traveling. He helps me out with such questions when available. (I also married him because he is a very nice man and he has had a visectomy, but I digress.)
The superbas are a hardy perennial for us, but we have the conditions they like. I should send Baa some of my Clinic Pink seed. It's some sort of alpine variety, I think, but it's pretty tough. I have a gardening friend here in Seward who lives in a very sunny area, and these pinks do very well for her. They throw seed and come up in the gravel. They are very fragrant, as well, and have a soft mint green foliage that is a pleasure in itself.
Eyes: Do these do well for you in your climate? Do they come back for you the following spring?
They didn't come back for me... another one of those "iffies". It didn't bloom until the second year ... and then bloomed their little heads off. I have seeds of the species but I haven't planted em yet. I wonder if they're hardier than the Rainbow Lovliness.
Think our problem is more a lack of drainage than climate possibly. Have to get some soil diuretic, lol. Or perhaps a system of catheters would help!
Sometimes they do...other times not....is that crazy or what?
"eyes"
LOL - Could be Philomel - but I have pretty good luck with other dianthus species. I have the maiden pinks everywhere. I'm starting a new one this year called dianthus myrtinervis. Anyone have it?
I love all the pinks, just need to add barrow loads of coarse sand/grit to be able to grow them. They rot in the winter wet here.
Still, it's worth it particularly for the well scented ones.
Now i'm getting back into gardening, this is one group i would like to collect. Have to get going on all that grit!
I don't think it's a climate difference, we just have to be careful where we plant Dianthus, some places they do well and others they don't. We have neutral soil with acid and sometimes slightly alkaline pockets which complicates things.
Poppysue
I received some seeds of D myrtinervius from the Seed Guild this year. I would be interested in knowing how you get on with yours please. Also have you heard of Dianthus erectaceaus? I can't find any reference to it.
I'm going to try and plant some cheddar pinks this year. Anyone have luck with them?
I have mostly the zing varieties. I planted some yellow one this year. So far all have germinated. Hope they do well. Here they do just like eyes said. Bloom like crazy in the spring, die back in the heat of the summer, and then start up again in fall til first frost. When we live in Ohio, they bloomed ALL summer. I loved it. Dianthus is one of my favorite flowers.
Someone sent me seeds of the Rainbow Lovliness last year and they bloomed in the fall. They stayed green all winter and have been blooming for about a month now. I have them in a raised bed that gets about half a day of sun.
I have seeds from Firewitch Dianthus if anyone wants to try them, they are a perennial variety that will bloom the first year from seed.
Baa - I started my myrtinervius a few weeks ago. Just transplanted them tonight to cell packs. They germinated in a matter of days at room temp. Easy as pie - and they look nice and sturdy. I couldn't find any reference to d.erectaceaus either. Do you think it might be d. erinaceus you have?
Philomel: Don't you have some neighbors over there on those Isles that have lots of peat? Wouldn't that help loosen the soil? You can always sweeten the lot up with a bit of woodash. I'm a freelance soil ammender.."What! Test a soil sample! I'd sooner muddle around on my own!"
You folks will have me running to the database again to look these up. I never met a dianthus I didn't like, so I grow as many as I can. For deltoides, I have Zing Rose, Zing Salmon, Arctic Fire, Flashing Lights, and another small dark pink one I have no name for.
For superbus, I have the Rainbows, and crimsonia. Last year I started some knappii (yellow), but they didn't bloom this year. In the basement, I've started the Siberian Blues (Dianthus amurensis), as well as all the others. And then there are those lovely pinks that grow like crazy and I have no name for. I've posted them a while back on the Identification forum. Any seeds of different varieties would be nice, and I'll reciprocate.
What a pretty flower. I love all the dianthus, since they seem to do so well in my climate. I'm going to look for the ones mentioned.
WZ, PEAT :O!!! Over here it's endangered and i only ever use peat free compost. But yes there's a lot i can do (and am doing) to improve the soil. I have 3 compost heaps on the go and am making deep beds (never walked on) for the vegetables. Think i'm going to extend that to everywhere as soon as i can. I've also got some raised beds with lots of grit and sand in the soil mixture. But it's amazing how much of that stuff this soil will eat and still stay like glue.
There are loads of brickworks here that make fine bricks from the stuff i garden in!!
I'm not a total winger though - when worked for long enough with enough compost it makes very good garden soil.
philomel: What happened to the peat. Did the Irish burn it all for fuel? I've always pictured Ireland teaming with peat bogs...now I find out it's an endangered species. We are luck enough to have one just up the hill from us. The last time one of my garden friends and I went up the hill to get some, we had my DH drive us, and he almost drove into the bog...they'd still be looking for the bodies...and the truck!
Poppysue
I think you're right, it is a misspelling :)
Philomel
I no longer worry about improving the soil, I just grow things which like clay and add the odd bit of compost.
A very sensible approach Baa, and one i think i shall have to take as well!
Must look at your homesite for what you grow.
Also, when i started gardening here the garden got full sun for a lot of the day. Now, however, my neighbour's trees cast a lot of shade - so am having to revise ideas on that basis too :(
Philomel
I think a lot of time is wasted in trying to make things what they are not, nor ever going to be. I also feel that to force a plant to grow where it really doesn't want to is defeating the object of growing and gardening. It certainly costs a lot of money LOL.
My homepage doesn't have details of the garden, my entries into the PDB are some of the things I grow or have grown (RIP little plants) and a few are those I will be attempting to grow in the near future. Most of the garden back and front is in shade, the front garden faces north and the soil gets very cold and part of it gets only 3 hours/day sunlight in high summer. We had always have east or west facing situations before so it was a new challenge. There are many plants which tolerate this situation and if you would like a list I will be happy to let you know what has been successful so far. No need for that downward facing mouth!
Here in Seward, full-sun plants are a problem, since our soil is so cool, even in the sun. We grow plants in full sun that are listed for partial shade. For instance, hostas would grow anywhere on my property. Goatbeard, which is a shade lover grows along the roads. I have ferns planted where the sun hits them all day.
We grow quite of few of the plants that are considered "cottage garden" types. In Philomels case, though, she is dealing with clay soil and hot summers? This is quite different than mine. Being geography impaired, I think of all England as being lush and misty or sunny with sod roofed houses and cottage gardens. Do you think of me in an igloo?
Hot summers? That's the two days of 90F in mid August when all the papers report how its been the hottest summer since......... We sometimes skip summer and have an 8 month Spring instead.
I don't know how I see Alaska, I think of it as being very snowy all year LOL
The clay in the garden here does dry out and crack during the summer but its more because the water table from the river has lowered for the summer.
Yes, I guess we have 3 months of spring here, two months of autumn, and seven months of winter...or something like that. In the past, we've had occasional days in the 80's, and you'd think we were all going to die from the heat! The only cars with air conditioning were driven up from the lower 48, and most households are lucky to have even a window fan! I sleep on flannel sheets all year round.
Even on hot days (70 degrees F), it cools down immediately when the sun goes behind the mountains. Some of these mountains never quite lose their snow caps in the summer. Our water is glacier fed, so it's always ice cold from the tap. I have to add a bit of hot water when I'm rinsing the veggies or my hands cramp up!
Here in Seward, I couldn't tell you what kind of soil we have...since we have none! Mostly what we have is fine gravel that we ammend with endless compost and loads of topsoil from elsewhere...like Anchorage or Matanuska Valley. I have lovely soil, but it all came from somewhere else! Since we are working on gravel, we have wonderful drainage here, however.
Since the soil is cool and precious, we do most of our gardening in raised beds and containers. This raises the temp considerably and prevents loss of soil due to errosion. Do you suppose philomel would benefit from some container gardening, especially if she's got a big job on her hands getting her soil ready.
Weez, i'm probably making more of a fuss than i need to. I'm on clay over chalk, so we don't have surface water, no streams or rivers boo hoo. The clay dries out and cracks in the summertime, but added compost and grit is improving matters. I try and grow things that are ok in the conditions and do mostly succeed. Don't grow much in containers because i'm all for low maintenance. That's why i've concentrated more on trees and shrubs in the past few years - my maintenace was close to zero, so things were getting overgrown with bramble nettle and bindweed
Am planning to do a lot more out there from now on, so am looking forward to getting back into herbaceous etc. even thinking of a greenhouse. Grow things in containers like oriental lilies that need acid conditions, or particularly free draining soil etc. All the rest go in the garden - just need to keep them weed free and hopefully will manage to keep them going. There's lots that grows fine here if looked after!
Been rambling a bit, like my weeds. Trying to describe things better because i appreciate your concern. Of course will be keeping you updated. Now i'm off to take daughter to see a car to replace the one that got broken into, so please forgive me if not in touch as soon as i'd like to be.
Hilary :-)
Hope you didn't forget to kick the tires, Hilary!
