Dianthus plumarius Letitia Wyatt

Dianthus 'Letitia Wyatt' is a recent carnation, combining the increased floribundance of modern cultivars with the fragrance and charm of old varieties. Its fully double pompom flowers are a stunning candy pink with a salmony centre. These bright flowers emit an exquisite clove scent. This variety offers a long and abundant flowering period, above a beautiful cushion of grey-blue evergreen leaves. Its tall and sturdy stems are ideal for creating charming bouquets. It is a robust perennial. It is easy to grow in light soil and full sun, in the garden or in pots.

'Letitia Wyatt' belongs to the Caryophyllaceae family. It is a cultivar from England, resulting from cross-breeding between Dianthus plumarius and D. gratianopolitanus, among others. D. plumarius is a European perennial which is the main ancestor of the different groups of both old-fashioned and modern carnations and pinks. D. gratianopolitanus is native to Europe and Asia and has passed on to its descendants its compact habit and its wonderful clove scent. Its growth rate is quite fast. Its mature size will not exceed 35 to 40cm (14 to 16in) in height with a spread of 30cm (12in) or more. It forms a low and dense clump. From May to July, and again in September-October, it produces 4 to 5cm (2in) wide double flowers with slightly crumpled but not particularly fringed petals. The flowers are carried at the end of sturdy, often branched stems. Its linear, glabrous, pointed, persistent and leathery leaves are a superb grey-blue colour.

Dianthus 'Letitia Wyatt' is perfect in borders, embankments, and dry rockeries. Its large fragrant flowers bring undeniable charm to the most modest decor. It can accompany bluebells, Anemone coronaria, and Madonna lilies, or other flowering cushions such as helianthemums, silenes, wall bellflowers, Caucasus arabis, Phlox subulata, Erigeron karvinskianus and Geranium sanguineum. To evoke gardens of the past, one can plant a small border of these charming carnations at the foot of clumps of red peonies and old roses. This plant looks lovely between the stones of a wall or paving, in a trough or in a container. It adapts very well to pot cultivation, in light soil.