Biennial And Perennial Carnations: Varieties And Cultivation

2023 Author: Sebastian Paterson | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-11-26 20:34

Read the previous part: Annual carnations: varieties and cultivation

Biennial carnations

The bearded carnation or Turkish carnation (Dianthus barbatus) is very loved by gardeners. Perhaps this is the most popular carnation.

Small flowers up to 1.5 cm in diameter, simple or double, collected in dense bouquets of inflorescences, very elegant.

Each bunch sits in a bundle of thin bracts, for which this carnation got its name "bearded".

Flowers can be white, red, pink, cream of various shades, with a peephole, a border or delightfully painted with the finest patterns. The resulting hats are clean and bright colors.

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There are downright velvet burgundy inflorescences. The flowers of this carnation are pleasantly scented. Now there are varieties with double flowers, but, in my opinion, they are less interesting, because they do not show the subtlety of the pattern on the petals. There are varieties with split tips of petals, they are somewhat variegated.

The Turkish carnation is cold and frost-resistant, undemanding to light and can grow in a small shade.

Seeds are sown directly into the ground at the end of May - June. In the first summer, a rosette of leaves grows. This carnation blooms in the second year after sowing - from the end of June for a month. The flowering is very friendly. Sets seeds, multiplies easily by self-sowing. Seeds remain viable for 3-5 years.

As a biennial, a luxurious grenadine carnation from a group of garden carnations is grown in gardens. It should be noted that the garden carnation is the progenitor of many modern varieties and hybrids. Its homeland is considered the Mediterranean, but since they worked with it a lot in Holland, where many new hybrids were created on its basis, it is often called the Dutch carnation.

Grenadine is a typical biennial, blooming from June to August in the second year after sowing. If sown early, it can bloom in the first year. True, this bloom will be late and modest compared to the lush bloom in the second year. The height of the bushes is 40-70 cm, depending on the variety.

Narrow leaves are collected in a basal rosette, covered with a bluish bloom, leaves on thin cranked stems - too. Flowers up to 5 cm in diameter, fragrant, located at the ends of the shoots in several pieces. They are red, pink, white, yellow. Sometimes one well-developed bush has more than 100 flowers. This carnation is cold-resistant and drought-resistant, but it is better to cover the crops for the winter with spruce branches.

Propagated by sowing seeds in May in open ground. This clove loves soils that are non-acidic, nutritious. It has a positive attitude to fertilizing with mineral fertilizers in early spring and during the budding period. It is useful to set up supports so that tall bushes do not fall. Lateral shoots can be pinched when they reach a length of 20 cm, under 5-6 knots. Then the plants will give another 5-6 flowering shoots.

Now on sale you can find a large number of varieties of grenadine carnation in almost any color, which can be identified by the name of the variety. Here are the names of some of the varieties: Lady in Yellow, Coral, Rose, Scarlet, Bordeaux, Sugar King, Carrot King and many other kings and queens, both domestic and foreign.

Since the carnation has been growing in gardens for a very long time, it is natural that all kinds of its varieties have appeared from free cross-pollination, because carnations easily interbreed with each other. They have no names, but the owners love them and grow them for their beauty or aroma. Many of the results of cross-pollination have become varieties, but it is almost impossible to determine their origin or belonging to a species.

Perennial carnations

It is good to have perennial carnations in the garden. They are all very beautiful, fragrant, unpretentious, winter-hardy. Do not require shelter for the winter. They need a sunny place. Propagated by dividing bushes, layering, cuttings, seeds - sown in April-May, bloom in the second year. The following species do well with us.

Carnation herbaceous forms sod up to 20 cm high. Leaves are thin, single flowers 1-1.5 cm in diameter with serrated petals, dark red with an eye. It blooms in early summer. Cultivars of this carnation have larger flowers. Grass blooms very profusely, from June to August. Until now, it can be found on the forest edges in our Leningrad region, however, every year - less and less. But, having sowed it once in the garden, you can then periodically discover it, revived due to self-seeding.

Pinnate carnation. She comes from Western Europe, where it grows in the mountains. Compact bushes 25-50 cm high are formed from lodging shoots with numerous bluish linear leaves, sometimes twisted. In culture, mainly varieties of hybrid origin. The flowers are simple or double, medium-sized, very fragrant, white, pink, purple, solid or variegated. Fringed petals, cut along the edges.

Blooms very profusely in the first half of summer. Now hybrid varieties of this carnation have begun to appear, which bloom earlier and give a second bloom in late summer, including hybrids with grayish-blue carnations. Here you can note the Sonata variety with a large palette of elegant flowers. Blooms profusely all summer.

Sand carnation. Found in pine forests, on sandy soils. Forms dense sod 15-20 cm high. The leaves are thin, green. The flowers are fragrant, white, pink, solitary, up to 2-3 cm in diameter, with pinnately-fringed edges. Blooms from the second half of July to September.

Lush carnation. Forms bushes up to 40-60 cm tall. Leaves are mostly basal, narrow. Stems are slightly branched, ending in very elegant, fragrant flowers of a delicate pink-purple color, up to 3 cm in diameter. The edges of the petals are deeply cut into threadlike lobes. It turns out delicate incredibly beautiful flowers. It usually blooms from June to August. Now there are varieties with a fantasy pattern in the center in the form of eyes, rings, etc.

The carnation is grayish blue. Very fragrant carnation. Forms dense and compact bushes 15 cm high with pink flowers. It got its name for the color of narrow leaves. Blooms within a month. Grows in dry places. Its hybrids with a feathery carnation are very beautiful - bright colors, abundantly blooming.

There are other types of perennial carnations that are rarely found in gardens, such as alpine carnation, Amur carnation. More often you can find their hybrids with other species.

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Perennial carnations grow well on dry, light soils. Organic fertilizers are not required for them, mineral fertilizers - at a minimum during the budding period. Overfed carnations do not live long in our gardens.

Lush carnation is good in mixborders. Low growing carnations are good for growing on rocky hills. Their leaves are not afraid of frost, bushes with silvery leaves are especially decorative.

All perennial carnations easily set seeds and multiply by them. The seeds are harvested when the fruits - the capsules turn brown. Store at a temperature of + 5 … + 10 ° C. You can sow them before winter on the ridges in the garden, but it is safer - at home on the windowsills in pots. They usually sow in March, so that by the time of planting in the ground, the plants have time to get stronger, and by the fall they have time to root well. In open ground, seedlings are planted in May - early June at the end of strong night frosts.

Adult plants do not take root well after transplanting. They can hardly be propagated by division. It is better to propagate the varieties you like by layering or cuttings. Short shoots are taken on cuttings in July, they are rooted in pots of sand, under a glass, regularly watering and sprinkling.

All perennial carnations require a sunny location, non-acidic and moderately fertile soil. For the plants to branch well and bloom well, they need to be fed with full mineral fertilizer: 1-2 times when growing seedlings and another 2-3 times already in the flower garden. When the soil dries up, abundant watering is desirable. It is necessary to regularly remove faded flowers, then the plants will bloom longer and more abundantly, and they will look much more elegant.

Lyubov Bobrovskaya

Photo by Natalia Butyagina and Olga Rubtsova