Cutting Back Carnations

Hi All,

My mom keeps asking me to find out if / when she should cut back her perennial carnations. My brother sent them to her last year and she's not done anything with them since she planted them in the spring. They got so tall they're kind of doubled over now but most of it still looks green. Should she cut thelm back and if so when?

Thanks for any tips,
La

Nobody here grows carnations? Well I'll be darned.

I have grown them before, but can't remember when I cut them back, but do remember cutting them back, and that was 40 Yrs. ago.I know they came back looking good, and if I'm not completly off, I think it was summer, and they had bloomed, and were lying down. Sometimes bad help is better than no help. Mike

LOL, thanks for responding all the same Mike, I was beginning to feel invisible.

I'd rather think that people are relunctant to display their ignorance, than to ignore, mine was on display, but I can almost remember the situation, and I think it was like that.Mike

If you mean Dianthus, I cut mine back after they flower, I just use the hand grass cutters and give them a haircut. Sometimes they send up a few more blooms.
Right now I'd just trim them to look neat, look carefully though so you don't cut off any new buds if they are starting to grow.

Thanks ladygardener. I will pass that info along to me mama.

Mike my intent was not to sound offensive and I do apologize if I sounded that way.

I tried an experiment this year, since I'd always heard that one should never cut dianthus back into the woody part, I decided to try it and see what happened.

I hacked them back down to about 3", and they have responded with tons of new green growth.

No guarantee that I'll necessarily get bloom this year, after such drastic surgery, though!

I had bought a small pot of them at HD or Lowe's and had them in shade. The buds turned brown and I put them in the sun. I actually thought where I had them would get sun but it didn't. Anyway, so it started to grow but the buds were all brown... so I basically pruned them like I do my gerberas and little dahlias when the flowers are spent. I just cut them at the buds with a little stem but tried not to interfere with the leaves. that was about 3 weeks ago. Now there are new buds sprouting and one is trying to bloom. I may not be doing it the "right" way, but the result is working for me! lol Could be different in your zone too though. Hope this helps.

Thanks everyone. Her plant was simply labled "carnation" and looks much different than my dianthus. I wish I had a picture to post. I suppose they could just be different varieties, but mine stay low to the ground and are bushy while hers is about 8" tall (or would be if it hadn't doubled over) and is very thin being only 3-4" in diameter.

I will pass all this information on and she can take make the decision. Ahh...to cut or not to cut....

I believe (again may be showing MY ignorance lol) that Dianthus caryophyllus is commonly called Carnation. Other species of dianthus are known as "clove pinks", "garden pinks" and "sweet william". I *think*. :-)

I purchased seven carnation plants yesterday at my local garden center. They are clearly labeled Natural Dwarf Carnations, Adorable Series. As for care it says to plant in full sun and pinch off blooms for new bloom growth Can be grown either indoors or outdoors.

Dianthus, and carnations, are first cousins, neither is kin to sweet william, though similar.(I like all 3).I am growing the dwarf carnation from seed, and they are doing fine, and like the dianthus, are a perennial. There are larger carnations, that grow quite large, (whitch I grew 43 Yrs. ago), that are corsauge material, and those I cut back to the folage, and they came back strong, with large fragrant flowers.
I would say trim to suit the situation, and you won't be sorry.Happy wacking. Mike

Well, I was wrong, don't know what "sweet william" I had in mind when I made that blunder, but a wise man will change his mind, while a fool never admits his mistakes.Please accept my appoliges.
I still say you can shape, and maintain your carnations, and the larger ones have such a pleasant fragrance.Thank you for the enlightenment.Mike

No problem, Mike. Thought it was something I learned here on DG a couple of years back (I've been away for 2 yrs). My apologies if I was brusk in my post....was not intended if it came across that way. DG is a wealth of education...or at least it has been for me.

I do believe what I bought earlier this year and planted are the perennial carnations. I will try the shaping as you've described it and with some luck I'll have some fabulous fragrance to bless our pool area.

Maybe its me but finding information on carnations is frustrating. I'm growing dianthus caryophyllus--Fenbow Nutmeg Clove from Thompson & Morgan. Germination was excellent. 20 rather pricey seeds produced 20 seedlings. But they are slow growing, both in pots inside and now three weeks outside in full sun, perfect weather and well drained soil with the proper pH. Don't know if they'll bloom this year or not (T&M says yes if started early and I certainly did that).

Bought "Carnations and Pinks" by Pamela McGeorge and Keith Hammett for more information and am more confused than I was when I started. The book seems to say pinching back "border carnations" aka dianthus caryophyllus means no blooms next year. But what do they mean by pinching back? If I get flowers, am I supposed to let them sit on the plant and die? Book also says dianthus caryophyllus need to be staked and they aren't grown that much because of that. But the T&M catalogue shows them unstaked and low to the ground--maybe 20" high.

Anyone know more?