By Gerlind Dubey
Dianthus are commonly known as Pinks; which for the life of me I never understood, because Pinks come in a variety of colors, in fact white, yellow, orange, red, and purple are very common colors for Pinks. After doing some research, I was rewarded with some interesting insight. Word has it that the color pink was named for the flower. The name originates from the name pinct or pinked (a sewing term), referring to the jagged edges made by pinking shears. Pinks (dianthus) are one of the earliest known cultivated plants. In ancient days, dianthus was known as clove; reference to this plant dates back to the first century AD.
Dianthus offers a large family of plants. There are over 300 species, varying from low to tall and there are annual, biennial and perennial plants among them. Pinks are easy to grow and depending on the variety, bloom in mid to late spring. The colorful, floriferous Dianthus is a dainty, delightfully fragrant, charmer suitable for many garden settings.
The plant will grow just about anywhere, however Dianthus doesn’t like wet soil. Unlike most other plants, Dianthus plants should not be mulched. The plants require good air circulation around the stems. Deadhead by simply snipping the spent 
flowers off, and some species will make a second showing.
Pinks are also called carnations or sweet Williams. Carnations are often referred to as old fashioned flowers. The large common ones found in flower arrangements, are grown in greenhouses and not meant for the garden, however there are a slew of carnation relatives that will quickly add fragrance, foliage and blossoms to the garden. The Grenadins are a group of hardy garden carnations that reflect the florist carnation in every way except size, being much smaller. They flower throughout the summer and will bloom the first year from seed if started early. Hardy in zone 4 through 9, Sweet William is a traditional granny garden flower that I absolutely adore. They are generally biennials, but reseed regularly so as to appear as perennials. Sweet William is known for its clusters of fragrant flowers often grown for cut flowers.
This week’s tip…Save your old used sponges and put them in containers before adding potting soil. This even works well on houseplants!
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