Dianthus 'Sweetheart Abbey'
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Dianthus 'Sweetheart Abbey'• common names: dianthus, garden pink
• flowering season: late spring into early summer
• height: flowers on stems of 10 to 15 inches; the rest of the plant is lower at 6 inches tall by up to 24 inches wide
• Light requirements: full sun for the best flowering, although the plant will grow in less light
• Soil requirements: average garden soil that is well drained
• Water requirments: water young plants regularly their first summer; older plants are drought resistant
• Growth habit: a low cushion-shaped plant that spreads moderately to about two feet wide
• How to propagate: take tip cuttings in early summer, or peg-down a side shoot after slicing halfway through it with a knife
• Leaf type: narrow glaucous-green leaves
• Ways to use it: in a sunny garden; shearing back a plant by a third or a half once a year is recommended
• Special characteristics: a charming, sweetly fragrant blossom
• Other points of interests: this dianthus honors a bit of Scottish history (see below)
The ruins of Dulce Cor or Sweetheart Abbey can be found today in the town of New Abbey, five miles south of Dumfries in southwest Scotland. It dates from 1273 when Lady Dervorguilla founded it in memory of her husband John Balliol (not the King of Scots, but his father, founder of Balliol College, of the University of Oxford). The monks bestowed this name upon their abbey in her honor after her death, when she was laid to rest together with her husband's embalmed heart. The fragrant flower has a full head of double petals, colored in crimson that lightens at the edges. The petals' edges are fringed with a sawtooth pattern as if cut with pinking shears. Hardy to USDA Zone 6. Needs full sun and well drained soil.
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