Growing Carnations:

Carnations are not only a very versatile flower for arrangements, but they're extraordinarily easy to grow. They can be planted as seeds directly in the garden or started indoors to be transplanted later. You'll want to make sure that you don't put it in soil that is too moist or too dry. A decent flowerbed with good drainage is usually sufficient, as long as you keep it watered. Add about a Ľ inch of loose soil (not packed down) to cover the seeds.

Once you've got your seeds started and grown into seedlings, you can transplant them into the garden. Space them about a foot apart to allow adequate sunlight and 'elbow' room. Since carnations are perennials, they can be propagated by division or cuttings as well. When the plants are fully grown, you can separate them and propagate them in this manner.

As the flowers grow, keep them watered two or three times per week, and give them plenty of sunlight. If you use fertilizer, it's best to keep it to a minimum, only feeding it about twice a month. Remember that carnations like moist well drained soil that has a little alkaline.

It is also a good idea to use a little manure, peat, or plain old garden compost to beef up the soil a bit. Add a bit of sharp sand to keep the soil airy, and bone meal to keep any fertilizer from damaging young roots.

The soil is of utmost importance for a potted or greenhouse carnation. In an open flower bed, the roots develop and reach for whatever nutrients it can find, often reaching some distance toward a source of whatever it needs. In a pot or greenhouse tray, a plant doesn't have that luxury. The soil must be a perfect blend of each necessary trace element for the plant to grown and flourish to its fullest potential.

The best soil blend is often a hotly contested issue among enthusiasts. Some growers believe the soil must have a high peat content, while others prefer regular top soil with a few secret added ingredients. Crushed stone and rubble, cow manure, and any other mixture that a grower gets into his mind makes the best flower have all been done before. The trick is to have the soil include all the right things to feed and nurture the flower.

One of the things that makes these plants so popular for gardening is that they are long blooming flowers and the plant itself can survive light frosts long after other perennials have gone dormant for the winter. To keep your plants healthy through the winter, though, you'll have to put some mulch over the flower bed to keep off the cold temperatures. With some care and attention during the Spring and Summer months, you can have a full garden of beautiful multicolored florist quality carnations with very little maintenance or actual hard work (the next year, of course). The best part about them is that since you can use cuttings to propagate the plant, you can harvest the seeds and then use cuttings or division to make even more plants.

That's a basic rundown of how to get a carnation to grow in your garden, but what if you want to have one for a corsage or buttonhole adornment. Perhaps you simply want flowers year round. There are three main types: the perennials, which are hearty and need minimal attention once they get going, the middleweight annuals, which grow quickly from seed to flower, and only in the spring and summer months, and the true annuals, which are grown in greenhouses. The third variety, when kept in good, well drained moist soil in a temperature controlled environment can continue to bloom for months or even years.

As they reach full maturity, they get better in terms of aroma and deeper in color. While they grow anywhere from 18 to 24 inches, the real star of the carnation plant is the large flowering bloom at the top. The blooms offer a very nice clove like scent. Most varieties come back from year to year, but there are some kinds that are annuals. The annual varieties have a much richer variety of colors, but are sometimes a bit smaller than their perennial counterparts.

It is sometimes a bit daunting to think about all the conditions that must be right for the perfect carnation to grow, but remember, that carnations are actually quite hardy flowers. They bloom for a long time, their stalks are large and thick (though a bit brittle, so try to keep heavy wind off them), and the blooms are absolutely enchanting. Even though perfecting the flower may be difficult, it is not difficult to grow a good example of the carnation, and even easier to simply sit back and admire the sublime beauty of the carnation.