These are the pink carnations I picked up last week. They are companions to the pot of African daisies and the pair bring a nice spot of color to the gray of the weathered deck and the blue/gray siding of our house. I've never grown carnations before and thought I'd try them in a pot and see if they appeal to me the way other dianthus do. They are not florists carnations. These small carnations as the wild ancestor of the garden carnation. They are herbaceous perennials that produce sweet-scented blooms. Give your carnations at least 6 hours of full sun. Deadhead to produce more blooms.An interesting note: One Christian legend says carnations first appeared when the Virgin Mary shed tears as she watched Jesus carry the cross to his crucifixion. The carnation has come to symbolize a mother's love, helped along when Anna Jarvis chose it as the official flower of Mother's Day.
I love carnations. When I was a child, before flowers were flown into the US from other countries, I lived behind a wonderful garden center called Wheatley Gardens. They catered to the Gold Coast mansions of the north shore of Long Island. They had a huge greenhouse for Carnations. Each year the horticulturists from Europe would tear down the tall Carnation plants that were growing through a grid of cotton strings, and re-plant the little shoots in order to propagate new plants for the next season. A huge mountain of Carnations and their gray foliage was heaped up on the compost pile near my house. I would gather red, pink, white, and candy striped Carnations by the armful, then jump into the pile for fun.
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