Dianthus plumarius Seeds | Garden Pink
LATIN NAME: Dianthus plumarius
COMMON NAME: Garden Pink
Plant Profile
Known to gardeners as Garden Pink, Dianthus plumarius is a handsome, low, tufted, evergreen perennial in the carnation family, native to dry, sunny places of the central Europe, while it is grown as a treasured garden flower. In carnation family it is fragrant, fringed flower of old cottage gardens, a plant that has kept its place by doorsteps of Europe for centuries. Given room and time, it reaches roughly Forty centimetres. The blooms are worked steadily by bees for as long as they are open. Add these qualities together and you have a species well worth a place in the garden.
Science & Biotechnology
The species features in the wider study of the carnation family, and its traits make it a useful subject for work on germination biology, cultivation and ornamental selection. Garden pink has a long record in flower-breeding papers of Europe, where fringed, fragrant flowers have been crossed and selected for centuries, and breeders keep coming back to species for scent and clear colours. Modern propagation practice has made this species straightforward to raise by ordinary good methods.
Uses & Benefits
In the garden, Garden Pink earns its place in borders, containers and mixed plantings, and it also rewards growers who raise plants for cutting, drying or kitchen use. In cottage garden, garden pink is fragrant tuft of sunny border. Its fringed, five-petalled flowers feed bees and butterflies, and low, evergreen mats fill rock garden, border and gap between stones with colour and scent. Clove-like fragrance and long flowering make it one of the most loved flowers of the garden, and it grows well in the gritty, well-drained, sunny ground. Thereafter it wants only the ordinary attentions any garden plant receives.
Pinks and carnations are cutting-flower royalty; in Chinese medicine the related Qu Mai is a classical diuretic herb, and the petals of scented types are a traditional edible garnish.
Growing from Seed
Starting Garden Pink from seed is simple and satisfying. Scatter the seed evenly over a loose seed compost, cover to no more than its own depth, and keep the pot moist and bright. Move strong seedlings into individual pots, keep them in good light, and set them out when the weather and their size agree.
Our Take
Once established, Garden Pink largely looks after itself. After establishment, care settles into an easy routine.
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