The flesh-pink carnation (Dianthus caryophyllus) that Elizabethan portrait painters employed as a backdrop wash symbolises the divine plant. A garden is instantly coloured by carnations. The wide range of colour options will provide ornamental value both indoors and outside, whether you use them as a border, in a flowerbed, a rock garden, in containers, or as a decorative element. Carnations can reach a height of about 18 inches and have straight stems.

These sturdy plants have large, full flowers that release an overpoweringly spicy scent. Start by properly igniting the seeds. Six to eight weeks before the last day of frost in your location, sow the seeds.

From seeds, carnations are cultivated. You can sow carnation seeds directly in your flower garden or start them indoors for later transplanting. Early in the spring is the best time to plant them outside. But watch out with very damp soil. Cover seeds lightly with 1/4 inch of fine dirt when sowing them. Set seedlings or seeds 12 distances apart.

Perennial plants can be multiplied by cuttings or by division if you’re cultivating them. Once your plants are established, you can divide them in the fall for further growth.