Last year I sent for some free carnations from Thompson & Morgan. I potted them up and gradually placed them in the borders. I only put one in the front garden but I'm wishing I had found space for a couple more as this one has really thrived. Carol Klein recommends us to 'treat them mean' and she appears to be right. This one is in relatively poor soil and it's the furthest away from the hosepipe. It has produced over forty tall red flowers and there are still masses of buds ready to open. Some people would have picked the blooms to enjoy them inside but I'm always reluctant to do that as it would 'spoil' the garden! Next year I will have an allotment cutting garden (hopefully!) so it shouldn't be an issue. In the meantime I buy cut flowers. This week I decided on carnations: the florist was charging £4; the supermarket wanted £3.50 and the market trader was asking £2 so he got the sale.
It was a bunch of long stemmed, pure white carnations that needed to be cut to fit into the vase. In the past the trimmings have always gone into the composter ... what a waste! As a child my mother taught me to snip the bottom of each stem just below one of the stem nodes then cut off the bottom 4 inches aiming for just above another stem node if possible. She would dip the bottom of the cutting in rooting powder and stick it in a pot of moist compost up to the bottom of the second node. (She did this immediately so she was sure they weren't planted upside down!) Some people recommend covering the pot in a plastic bag but Mum just left it on the kitchen windowsill which was light but out of the direct glare of the sun. She kept the soil damp and the roots developed within a few weeks. She never had to buy her bunches of carnations!
Am I turning into my Mum???!!!
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| 'Jazz' Rose |
I do hope your cuttings take Patricia. I sometimes hope I don't turn into my mother - other times I'd be happy too ;)
ReplyDeleteI love the colour of both your carnations and the rose, quite velvet like!
Thank you. I'll let you know how I get on. There are two pots so I might put a plastic bag over one to see if it makes any difference.
DeleteWhat an idea! I love carnations, especially for their scent. So, when you buy carnations at the florist, you put the trimmings of the stems in moist soil and they root like cuttings? I have never thought of this, I am sure I will follow your mum, the first time I shall buy carnations.
ReplyDeleteHi Janneke. Yes, every summer she had cuttings on the kitchen windowsill - some rooted/ some failed ... it didn't matter as they were all free! She pulled the little leaf clusters off the dead carnation stems and stuck them in pots too! You'd think her garden would be packed with carnations but she gave most of them away. Now she is housebound she has a large collection of geranium cuttings rooting in water glasses on the sills!
DeleteI've just ordered 10 dianthus for £10 from Hayloft - it was an offer I couldn't overlook so I hope they will like it in my garden and deliver lots of perfume. With luck I'll eventually get lots of cuttings off them too.
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