Grass carnation - small but bright

Many gardeners love lush decorative flowers in a flower bed. But, as the experience of modern landscape designers and florists shows, there is a place for a variety of plants in gardening a personal plot. Each of the elements plays a role, like an actor in a well-coordinated troupe. To make the central figures of the performance look brighter and more interesting, they often need a background of weaker characters.

Carnation herbal, unlike its garden cousin, does not have such a lush inflorescence, dense large calyx. It is smaller and more modest, but it can perfectly decorate an alpine slide, rockery and other compositions near your home. It is used as a ground cover greenery, which, moreover, is quite densely covered with small asterisk flowers. The flowering period is long, the care requirements are low. In this regard, the herb completely and completely outperforms the garden carnation.

It is best to propagate it on your site by seeds. You can, of course, try to separate part of the rhizome, but there is a risk of damaging the thin taproot. This plant does not like transplants. For some time it will grow by self-seeding, but it is recommended to update the planting after 3-5 years. Although the herbal clove does not require special care, it still prefers to grow on loose sandy soils, sun-drenched areas. It is quite winter hardy and tolerates drought well. But moisture stagnation can be fatal for this flora.

In combination with stones, small, but densely seeded, bright flowers look very good. They also highlight the dignity of other, taller plants.

This year I decided to plant a garden carnation. I bought suitable seeds, I thought that the flower was rather unpretentious. Watering was normal, but not a single seed gave flowers. I don't even know what to think about. I wanted to see the flowers, but they didn't even hatch.

A friend dug out a piece for me last year. Firstly, you can't get to the roots there - there are so many stems covering the soil. Secondly, I planted her in two pieces, one immediately disappeared. The second, however, went green in the winter. Hope it winters ...