Maiden pink, flower-bearing and fragrant

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Barely eight inches tall, maiden pink (Dianthus deltoides) spills bright, sweetly fragrant blooms over rocky surfaces, low walls and garden boxes all summer long. Give it a warm, sunny spot and this fast-growing little perennial asks almost nothing more — it shrugs off drought, outpaces weeds, and holds beautifully in a bouquet.

– Caryophyllaceae

Height – 6 to 8 inches (15 to 20 cm)

Caring for it is easy, and the tips presented here will let you have magnificent Dianthus deltoides all summer long.

Planting Maiden pink, Dianthus deltoides

For Maiden pink, Dianthus deltoides carnations

Maiden pink carnation loves warm and sunny spots, it’s important for beautiful blooming.

• When planting, dip the clump in water for a minute or two before settling it in a blend of soil mix and garden soil.

If planting in garden boxes or pots, better to use only soil mix.

• Planting can be done indifferently in fall or in spring, carefully keeping a space of 8/10 inches (20/25 cm) between plants.
• Perennial carnation cuttings are very easy to perform starting from the month of May.
• They can also be multiplied through crown division in fall.

• Work grit or coarse sand into heavy ground before planting, since maiden pink rots in winter wet far more readily than it suffers from drought.
• Set the clump so the crown sits level with the surface, never buried.
• Skip the manure and rich compost: lean soil gives tighter cushions and more flowers, while feeding produces soft, sprawling growth.

Pruning and caring for maiden pink

This carnation is very resilient and only requires little care, at most simply removing wilted flowers as they come and go.

Note that maiden pink resists particularly well to drought and normally doesn’t require any water.

• To stimulate appearance of new flowers, cut wilted flowers regularly (deadheading).
• Water in case of prolonged dry spells or heat wave only.

• Once the main flush of flowers fades, shear the whole mat back by about a third with scissors to keep the cushion tight rather than straggly.
• Maiden pink is drought-tolerant and seldom needs watering once established in open ground, but compost in containers dries out much faster, so potted plants do require regular watering.

All there is to know about maiden pink

The vast range of maiden pink varieties offers just as vast an array of possible colors.

This small perennial is nonetheless always very generous in flowering and it helps to furnish your flower beds, edges, low walls, rocky surfaces and garden boxes.

With bright colors and very fragrant, seize the opportunity of mixing several species within the same flower bed.

• Note that it grows really fast.
• If quickly overtakes any weeds.

• Maiden pink seeds itself freely, and seedlings from a mixed bed rarely match the parent colour, so propagate favourite shades by cuttings or division instead.
• The small flowers draw bees and butterflies, which makes this a useful edging along a path or around a vegetable plot.
• Waterlogged ground kills it far quicker than drought does, so spread a gravel mulch beneath the mat to keep the stems dry and stop them rotting.

Choosing a maiden pink variety

Almost all the maiden pinks on sale differ chiefly in flower colour, eye markings and the tint of the mat they form. The table below sets out the named forms and seed strains you are most likely to find in garden centres and mainstream catalogues.

Smart tip about Maiden pink

These carnations hold very well in a bouquet and are beautiful in a floral composition.