Dianthus plumarius Grans Favourite

Dianthus 'Gran's Favourite' is a modern variety recently bred, whose attractive bicoloured flowering is adorned with a beautiful fragrance worthy of the old carnations that our grandmothers loved. The semi-double flowers have white petals edged with bright pink and are centred on a purple heart. They sit perched on slightly arched stems above a grey-blue evergreen cushion. The flowers succeed each other throughout summer. The plant is robust, undemanding, and frugal. Give it sun and light. Plant it in calcareous, well-drained soil, and it will not disappoint you!

'Gran's Favourite' belongs to the Caryophyllaceae family. It received a Royal Horticultural Society award for its ornamental qualities and garden performance. Its ancestor, Dianthus plumarius, is a European perennial that is the main ancestor of various groups of carnations or pinks, both old-fashioned and modern. Its growth rate is quite rapid. Its adult size will not exceed 30cm (12in) in height with a similar spread. It forms a low and dense tuft. From June to August, sometimes until September, it produces 3 to 4cm (1 to 2in) wide semi-double flowers. Each white petal is bordered with bright pink to purple-pink, and maculated with purple at the base. The flowers are carried by flexible stems adorned with several buds. Its linear, glabrous, pointed, evergreen, and leathery leaves are of a superb grey-blue colour.

Dianthus 'Gran's Favourite' is ideal for borders, embankments, and dry rockeries. It is both beautiful and fragrant and will bring undeniable charm to the most modest decor, in the garden, on a patio, and in bouquets. It accompanies the blue bells of wood hyacinths, bellflowers, Anemone coronaria, and Madonna lilies, or other flowering cushions like Iberis, catchflies, wall bellflowers, Caucasian rockcress, creeping phlox, Erigeron karvinskianus, and bloody cranesbill (Geranium sanguineum). To evoke gardens of the past, one can plant a small border of these lovely carnations at the base of white, pink, or red peony clumps and old roses. This plant is beautiful between the stones of a wall or paving, in a trough or in a pot. It adapts very well to pot culture, in light soil.