Annual / color · North Texas care guide
Dianthus chinensis
Nursery Pro tip: Spicy-scented blooms fall through spring. Often lives on as a perennial.
Fringed pink, red or white flowers with a spicy clove scent over blue-green foliage. Sold as a cool-season annual and often surviving as a short-lived perennial here — many plantings go through the winter and bloom hard again in spring.
Full sun to part shade and, above all, drainage — dianthus rots in a heavy wet bed. Compost-amended soil. Space 8–10 in apart.
Fall for winter and spring color, or early spring. Plant at the same depth (never bury the crown), Root Stimulator, light mulch kept off the stems.
Weekly; let the surface dry between waterings. Water at the base.
At planting and every four to six weeks during the cool season.
Shear the whole planting by a third when the first flush fades and it reblooms in a few weeks. That shearing is also what keeps it from getting woody and open.
Crown and root rot in wet soil or under heavy mulch. Aphids occasionally. It sulks in July and August; many people pull it then and replant in October.
Edging winter and spring beds with pansies, violas and snapdragons; in pots where the fragrance is close by.
Written for Rockwall's black clay, heat and winters by the Landscape Source team. Every yard is different — bring a photo by, or ask LS-Ai, and we'll tailor it to your spot.