How to Grow Carnations
Carnations look and smell lovely, and if you are enamored of them, it’s easy to grow them in your own yard. Prepare a flower bed in a sunny location, sow your seedlings and with minimal care you can have beautiful spring and summer bouquets.
- Location is everything for growing carnations. If you put them in a dark, wet location, they will not survive. They must be in a sunny, well-drained site to prosper.
- Prepare the bed in the late summer. Mix wood ash into the soil, it provides a slight alkalinity and potassium to the soil, both of which carnations love. Scatter four handfuls per square yard and add fertilizer to the soil. If you can't find wood ash, use lime.
- Put out your seedlings in the fall or mid-fall so that the rooting system has time to develop for fast growth in the spring. Plant carnations 9 to 15 inches apart. The wider apart, the better the flowers will grow. Bury the carnations covering no more than ¼ of the stem, and pack the soil firmly around the seedling.
- Water well once or twice a week.
- Stake the carnations as they grow so they are not damaged by rain and wind storms.
Tips
- You can start carnations from seed, if you start them indoors in mid-spring or summer. Use a cool window or a cold frame.
- There are more than 300 species of carnations available and grow as biennials, perennials or annuals depending on the variety. Some grow as tall as 24 inches.
- Carnations prefer being watered in the mid-morning or early afternoon so the foliage has time to dry. Fungi growth is possible if the plants are too wet.