For June, mi 



601 



Carnations and Pinks 



DR. E. BADE 



4 



Dianthus Chinensis 



DiantliHs Barbatiis 



CARNATIONS are old friends of the lover of 

 flowers. They are found under all sorts of condi- 

 tions : are present in the formal garden, in the 

 home garden, in the garden of the farmer, and even in 

 the window garden of the tenements. Their home is the 

 vicinity of the Mediterranean Sea, where they have de- 

 veloped into simple and compound flowers. Even at the 

 time of the ancient Greeks they were cultivated as pot 

 and garden plants. 



That carnation with its flowers in clusters finds its 

 home in the southern parts of Bavaria. It has long been 

 cultivated and is known as the "Sweet William." These 

 hardy plants are generally treated as biennials. The seeds 

 are sown directly upon the beds or in the cold bed in 

 June and transplanted in .\ugust when they are placed 

 half a foot apart. Flowers will appear in the second 

 year. They are easily cultivated, and do well under al- 

 most any condition. Xo special type of soil is required 

 and they even flower if standing in a light shade. The 

 plants never come true to form when propagated from 

 seeds, and in the third year they loose much of their 

 beauty and become scraggy. 



Dianthus plutiiiir'nis is .•motlii-r liard\ carnation having 



both simple and compound flowers which exhale a sweet 

 odor. These plants are also treated as biennials in the 

 garden; are easily grown from seeds, and can also be 

 propagated through cuttings like the garden carnation. 

 The seeds are either sown in March in the hotbed, or 

 upon the beds directly in June. The plants are usually 

 placed at half a foot intervals. It is also possible to 

 propagate through division. Here the different parts are 

 sunk into the soil to a greater depth than the plants orig- 

 inally stood in order to force the long shoots to form 

 roots. Old plants can be regenerated by judicious prun- 

 ing. This carnation does best in a clay soil. 



There are some recognized varieties of this species 

 which are very beautiful. They have the characteristic 

 property of producing flowers which at first appear to 

 rise straight upward but, with the development of the 

 buds, they begin to lean and later droop downward. 

 These plants mu>t lie ir.in>plantcd in the Fall and brought 



lonlJius Ilcddczvigii 



Dianlhus Pluiiijiius 



to a frost-free j)lace for the Winter. During this period 

 of rest they rer|uire but little water. 



The Chinese carnation, Dianthus cliinciisis, is a Sum- 

 mer carnation. It is odorless, but this lack is made up 

 bv the delicate color scheme of their flowers. As a rule, 

 they are compound with the leaves on the flower stalk 

 more or less slit. The garden hybrids, the Heddewig 

 carnations, are more simple in design and show well de- 

 veloped color demarcations ; are more robust than the 

 original species, and the leaves are either entire or but 

 slightlv serrate. I'orms liave been developed with com- 

 l)oinid flowers and slit leaves but they are less beautiful. 

 Other good varieties of this species are the dwarfed 

 (N'ana-) forms. 



The original flowers of the Chinese and the Heddewig 

 carnations are never reproduced by cuttings. The seeds 

 are sown in boxes during the month of .A.pril and the 

 flowers begin to open in June and last until late in the 

 Fall. Thev can be sown in the o])en in the month of May, 

 but under the.sc conditions they will, of course, flower at 

 a later period. Thev are placed at a distance of a half a 



