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Common Name: carnation
Type: Herbaceous perennial
Family: Caryophyllaceae
Zone: 3 to 8
Height: 0.5 to 0.75 feet
Spread: 1 to 1.5 feet
Bloom Time: May to June
Bloom Description: Light pink with magenta center ring
Sun: Full sun
Water: Medium
Maintenance: Low
Flowers: Showy Flowers
Leaves: Colorful
Tolerates: Deer
Culture
Easily grown in average, medium, well-drained soils in full sun. Prefers fertile, slightly alkaline, somewhat gritty loams with good drainage. Plants tend to die out in the center if drainage is not superior. Prompt removal of spent flowers may prolong bloom period, but is quite labor intensive. For larger plantings, it is perhaps more practical to simply shear off spent flowers after bloom. Shearing plants after bloom will trim the foliage mat and may promote a possible sparse rebloom in fall.
Noteworthy Characteristics
‘Bewitched’ is a naturally occurring sport of Dianthus ‘Firewitch’. It is a low-growing hybrid cultivar whose parentage seems to be in large part derived from the cheddar pinks (D. gratianopolitanus), and it is in fact sometimes sold as a cheddar pink cultivar. It produces a 2-4” tall mat of grassy, silver-gray foliage that typically spreads to 12-15” wide. Fringed, light pink flowers with magenta center rings appear on flowering stems rising to 6-8” tall. Flowers are moderately scented. The main flush of bloom is mid-spring to early summer, with some sparse rebloom sometimes occurring throughout summer into fall. Many of the plants in the genus Dianthus are commonly called pinks in reference to fringed flower petals that look as if they had been cut with pinking shears. U. S. Plant Patent #13,159 issued October 29, 2002.
Problems
No serious insect or disease problems. Crown rot may attack plants grown in moist to wet, poorly drained soils.
Garden Uses
Rock gardens, border fronts, edgings and containers. Dense mats may be grown together to form an interesting ground cover. May also be grown on difficult sites such as stone walls.