Need some feedback/opinions on dianthus

18 years ago

Hi everyone,

Well, my newest obsession to try is dianthus...thanks to all of you!:)

You guys have raved about the amazon series and I did try some of those this year...although in very limited numbers. For one, by the time I sowed them it was getting kind of late(so my plants are a little small yet), and secondly this is my trial year with a lot of different flowers.

So....when you guys mentioned 'sooty' on another post , I am now dying to try this and some other biennial dianthus. Thing is the more I look, the more I get overwhelmed.

I do know I want to sow them this summer and plant them out this fall...so I need something that will overwinter for me(obviously not amazon!).

What do you all like? And...for sooty...where are you finding seed for them(I too noticed Veseys had them...anyone had luck with them?). I primarily stick with Johnnys and Germania.

One other thing...I have limited space at our house(in town), and the plot we use for spring/summer/fall gets tilled up in the spring of the year(we have no control on the tilling). If I planted some for "holding" at our house (over winter)and then dig and transplant to the large plot in the spring...what would you think? Any other ideas? I don't have the space at our house to grow to maturity alot of dianthus, but was hoping maybe I could use it as a nursery bed kinda thing.

Sorry for the long post, you guys are great with all the information that is given on this forum....it is by far my fave.

thanks

m

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Comments (3)

Fundybayfarm
18 years ago
Hi Mitch,
As someone else mentioned, Jeanne, I think, the perennial and biennial dianthus are for early blloms, while the annual, amazon, is for later blooms. My per. varieties are blooming now. I have 2 kinds of perennial, the dianthus barbatus, "super duplex" series, and I also planted what was suppose to be a carnation, but it's not, it's another variety of dianthus, only different colors. These seeds were bought from William Dam seed, but they don't ship to the US, they are a small company, and can't afford all the inspections the states require. Veseys is where I purchased my sooty, and had good success, they bloom the second year, so you would have to have them in your holding bed 2 years. In fact, why go with perennials if the plot gets tilled? That would be one heck of a lot of moving them around. You could move the "sooty" variety in the spring, if you start them this year, but then what happens in the fall? If I were you, I would stick with annuals, otherwise you're going to have a lot of labor.
Cheryl
naturemitch
Original Author
18 years ago
Hi Cheryl,

thanks for the reply...

I don't have any perennials in the plot(except foxy, but I'm treating them as annuals).

I guess I was just thinking of sooty as a biennial(and didn't think of further down the road), not thinking of it as a perennial(which I will just keep some at home and not plant out at the plot in that case).

So maybe annual dianthus would be the way to go in the plot...in which I better ask for opinions on annual varieties as well :).

thanks a ton for your input!

m
Noni Morrison
18 years ago
I Am really enjoying the variety "Sweet" which I bought from Germania. IT is a dianthus like sweet william that blooms in its first year. By the way, there are atleast 3 different cultivers or names for the red black Sweet William. I think THompson and MOrgan has one. I haven't figured out if there is any difference in height with them or not or any difference in plants. Perhaps it is just a difference in names.

My first neons are just starting to bloom today! I started them under lights about the 1at of MArch and set them out just toward the end of frost season..around 3rd week in April.