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Dianthus barbatus x Chinensis | Dianthus

2017 March 3

2022 May 6

2023 April 17

2024 April 9

Dianthus barbatus x Chinensis | Dianthus

Caryophyllaceae (Pink or Carnation Family) Pronounced Carry-o-fuh-lace-ee-eye

Pronounced Dye-AN-thus Chi-NEN-sis (BY) bar-BAY-tus

The name is from Greek Di (of Zeus or Jove) or dios (god or divine) and antho (flower) which together means 'Jupiter's flower or divine flower.

Pinks bloom for a long time for me.  Sometimes they are one of the first to send out one small bloom and then they continue on for months.  I will give them a "haircut" with a pair of scissors and then they will bloom again later in the year.

Pinks are an annual or a biennial, but I always thought they were a perennial as they bloom every year for me! Ah! That means that my plant reseeds itself each year to continue blooming every other year. I have learned something new in that I should leave the deadheaded blooms and work them in under the leaves when I cut so that they can reseed. This would explain why some years the plant has more blooms than other years. However, I have also read that some varieties are perennial, so which is it!?

The five petals have fun crimped or serrated edges making it hard to distinguish where one petal ends and another begins.

I often confuse these with creeping or moss Phlox because they are short groundcover-type flowers that spread similarly. I have found myself calling them Phlox rather than Dianthus all the time. It is odd that I can never remember that the common name is Pinks yet I can remember Dianthus! My husband calls these the "candy cane flowers" as they have pink and red on them.

2024

Because the Pinks look like this in candy cane color, my husband often calls them the candy flowers!

I snapped a quick photo of one of the new plants after it was in the ground a week, and it is a little blury. I need to scan the tags and put them here.

2023

Ah! It was just a phone photo snap to document the day it first bloomed. We were going through a garden drama this year as I was trying to take my garden back, so I did not get much joy in my garden this year.

2022

2021

2020

2019

Ah! I had bought a metal arrow for the garden and before I hung it up, I set it here for a photo op.

2018

2017

2016

Oh my! Here in 2024 when I am putting this photo on the website page, I am very thankful we no longer have to deal with those daffodil leaves as they die back! We have removed them twice and I sure hope they do not come back again.

2014

2013

2012

2011

2008

2006

This is the first photo I found and so I have had this plant since at least 2006. My memory is that it was first planted in the front gardens and moved to the back gardens, so I actually think it is much older than this.

 

 

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