Other reasons for the clutter are the recent changes to the quarantine on dianthus imports. Beforehand, the quarantine significantly slowed the flow of innovations into the country. Now, American growers see the global dianthus market, not just a subset. There are more series to propagate, more plants to finish, more production variations to retail. Wow.
Dianthus for the spring holiday are controlled by their light accululation. I Love U blooms earliest of the batch. Most tend towards pink, a dianthus strength, but Early Love does have a red.
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| I Love U (Valentine's/Early Easter) | Early Love (late Easter) | Pink Kisses (Mother's Day) |
The gift and decor market
We expect these dianthus to live out their lives in a container, usually the one sold at retail. Although the blooming window is broad for dianthus in general, specific holidays work best with cultivars tuned to the appropriate light and blooming conditions.
Valentine’s Day: Use I Love U here. Dianthus needs light accumulation to trigger buds so you want a variety that doesn’t need as much to get started. I Love U blooms early and reliably into this window.
Easter: I Love U is often on the shelves at Trader Joe’s but the holiday swings widely through the weeks. Later dates work better with Early Love.
The Oscar series is the one bred for annual pot production in volume. You can just crank out these puppies quickly and easily. The lack of grief is important when keeping costs in control and margins predictable.
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| Oscar Cherry Velvet & Purple Star | Oscar Violet Pink | Oscar Purple Star |
Mother’s Day: Pink Kisses is the choice. Europe grows acres of the plant for the holiday. It also comes with POP designs, if you have a marketing department or want to dress up your rolling carts.
Fall Sales:
The EverLast series is a perennial series is a retail-forward series that emphasizes diversity. It has the kicks and flourishes that give the dianthus category its charm.
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| Everlast Cherry Swirl | Everlast Orchid | Everlast Pink White |
Annual beds and baskets
Pashmina Pink and White nestled among some creeping phlox. This series takes the consistent benchrun philosophy of the Oscars and applies it to perennial dianthus.
Long-lasting landscapes
The EverLast series is where to go when you want to offer diversity. It’s retail-tuned with variety at its heart. Each cultivar is a personality, a potential horticultural companion, sitting at a garden center. Some are short, some are tall, some are singles, some are doubles. This is a series where diversity is a competitive advantage. It appeals to in-house retail operations who grow dianthus strategically because they want to be known as the Dianthus Place.
American Pie is the series from the English breeder Whetman Plants. These are garden dianthus that offer much longer stems for cut flower gardens, table vases or just for the look.
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| Notice the stem length | American Pie Key Lime Pie | American Pie Orange Meringue |
Cut flower farms and gardens
hands instead of your arms. This is a very good size for cut flower gardens that need a mid-height plant for both garden and vase. American Pies are primarily single blooms with very large flowers. Please note these are very perennial dianthus. They need vernalization to flower profusely.
The two on the left are from the Capitan series, usually grown as annuals. These dianthus are more vigorous, allowing Northern gardeners to bring height to their containers. The one on the right is from the Premiere series. It has double blooms on longer stems.
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| Capitán Magifica | Capitán Red White Eye | Premiere Starburst |
A word about production
