The dianthus family was known as early as 300BC; Dianthus is a genus of about 300 species of flowering plants in the family Caryophyllaceae, native mainly to Europe and Asia. Common names include carnation (D. caryophyllus), pink (D. plumarius) and sweet william (D. barbatus).

Origin of name: from the Greek ‘dios’ which means divine and ‘anthos’ meaning a flower.

The species are mostly perennial herbs, a few are annual or biennial, and some are low subshrubs with woody basal stems. Most Dianthus produce richly fragrant flowers in the spring or summer, sometimes extending right up until the first frost, and most varieties will grow 18″ to 24″. The flowers have five petals, typically with a frilled or pinked margin, and are (in almost all species) pale to dark pink.

Growing Conditions: Can be grown from seed or from cuttings. If using seed, you can either use them directly, or grow them indoors and transplant later. Given that they prefer warm weather, if planting outdoors, start in spring once the weather turns a bit warm. Dianthus seeds can be started indoors around 6 to 8 weeks before the last frost is expected in case you want same year blooming. Once the seeds are sown, they should be covered lightly with soil, and planted around 10- 11 inches apart. But, you can even plant them with a bit of crowding since they look good in clumps. Do not mulch them.
Should be planted such that they receive 4-5 hours of sun a day. There should not be water-logging, so avoid too much water; so the soil should be fast-draining, fertile, and mildly alkaline (pH of approx between 6.7 - 6.8). Water them during dry periods, once or twice per week. Fertilizer should be added monthly. Once flowers have bloomed and then dried, the spent flowers should be removed, and the plant pruned to stem level.

Carnations (one of the varieties): The plants have grayish-green foliage and fragrant, semi-double rosy, purple or white flowers. There are many hybrid varieties in a variety of colours and sizes with no fragrance. They are great plants to grow in gardens and can be used as cut-flowers.
Cuttings can be taken off any carnation, but the best shoot come from cuttings off a year-old plant after it has bloomed (what helps is that this is the part of the plant where there is enough length of the stalk to form a cutting).

Coreopsis is a member of the Aster family. This plant is also called “Tickseed” or “Calliopsis”. Most varieties are perennials, with some annual varieties. They are natives of plains in the U.S. Coreopsis are sunny flower border work horses. They are great additions to any garden design, blooming most of the summer. Coreopsis make great garden edging as well as nice cut flowers. Coreopsis produces daisy like flowers. Flowers grow on sturdy stalks that grow from 1 1/2′ to 4′ tall. Brilliant colors include yellow, gold, red, maroon, or a combination of these colors.
The annual Coreopsis is C. tinctoria and in a full sun garden it can reach three to four feet in height. Easily grown as a hardy annual (you can sow it outside) this showy yellow and dark red daisy puts on quite a flower display. The drought-tolerant nature of the Coreopsis makes it a great plant for container gardens, xeriscaping or near the road or mailbox where it won’t get watered everyday. Give it a prime spot in the cut flower garden as well.

Zone: Tickseed, or Coreopsis, is hardy in zones 3-8.

Exposure: Full sun Bloom Period/Days to Harvest

Bloom Period/Days to Harvest: Early summer through Fall

Growing from transplantation: Shop for coreopsis plants in the spring in cold regions or year-round in mild climates. Choose healthy-looking plants with signs of new growth in leaf or flower bud. (In early spring you may need to look closely in the pot for the dark stems emerging from the soil.)

Grow Coreopsis from seed: Directly seed them into your flower garden in early spring. Sow seeds early in the season, covering lightly with coarse or sandy soil.

They grow well in average soils. Soil should be well draining. Mix in plenty of compost prior to the first planting. Keep the soil moist until they germinate, about one of two weeks. This versatile plant grows in dry or wet climates. Water only during extended droughts. Plant coreopsis in full sun in well-drained soil. Add a little organic fertilizer to the planting hole. Water weekly throughout the first summer.
Coreopsis will bloom longer if deadheaded. However the profusion of delicate blooms can make deadheading a nightmare. An easier solution is to simply wait until the first flush of bloom wanes and sheer the entire plant back. It will recover quickly. Add a light application of organic fertilizer in spring. Water infrequently once the plant is established - just two or three times during the summer. Dig up your Coreopsis clumps every three years or so to divide in the fall after blooming or in the early spring. The taller varieties will benefit from staking.

Question: I live in Ontario, so we have very cold winters. I palnted a hydrangea this past spring; how should I be pruning it? The bush is only 2 years old and gets pretty big in summer–about 3 ft high–but the tops get so heavy and they end up bending over. Is there any way to cure that?

Answer: You must be referring to Hydrangea arborescens (Smooth Hydrangea). Many other species of hydrangeas would not be hardy in your region. In your region it is best to treat this plant as an “herbaceous perennial”; that is, one that essentially dies back to the crown and regrows each year.

In late winter, cut back the plant right to the ground and fertilize lightly Although cutting back like this should produce a sturdy stem, there is really nothing you can do to keep the flowers from weighting down the branches. You can, however, use them as cut flowers, or dry them for use in dried bouquets. To dry them, simply cut the flowers at the base when they are fully open and just beginning to fade, strip off the leaves, tie them in a bunch, and hang them in a cool, dry place.

Question: Do I need to prune my Joe Pye weed back this fall? I read somewhere that the plants require a light pruning in late fall, but I’ve been told that with our cold winters, the plants will die back to the ground and regrow next spring.

Ans: This is not a woody plant or shrub but rather an herbaceous perennial, meaning it dies back to the ground each winter. The old stems should be removed at some point once they have been frozen back, it can be done in either fall or spring, for
sanitation purposes. Trimming off just the spent flowers (deadheading)promptly in fall will prevent the plant from reseeding; however some gardeners feel they add winter interest and so leave them until spring. Next spring, be very patient in waiting for the plant to come up–it usually gets a late start and you won’t see new shoots until long after your other perennials have begun growing. You might want to mark its location to avoid stepping on it or planting something else on top of it by accident while you are waiting.

When you prune, be sure to do the following:
Cut to healthy wood if removing dead, diseased, or damaged growth.
Cut back to a lateral shoot or bud.
Cut to a bud or stem that is pointing in the direction you want the vine to go.
Cut cleanly and don’t leave a stub, which is an invitation to bugs and diseases.
Pruning mature vines can be difficult, because their long stems become tangled. Don’t be tempted to yank. Instead, prune one stem section at a time until you’ve cut out all you want to remove. Check out this very informative site:
http://www.bbg.org/gar2/topics/sustainable/handbooks/pruningtrees/

A query you could have is if you have a large orange trumpet vine, should those vines be cut back to the trellis ?
You can prune trumpet vine anytime. You could probably cut back to 1/2 or 3/4 of the trellis height and still have lots of growth next year.. Here’s a nice website about your trumpet vine:
http://www.beginner-gardening.com/trumpetvine.html

Q. What about butterfly bushes? Should they be trimmed to the ground?

Ans: Butterfly bushes can grow 6′-12′ tall and have a spread of 4′-15′ in warm
climates, but even so, the recommended care of butterfly bushes is to prune
them back to the ground in the winter garden. The butterfly bushes will
re-emerge from their roots in spring. Blooms tend to be larger and more
prolific on the new growth of butterfly bushes, giving you incentive to
prune them. You essentially want to treat butterfly bushes as if they were
herbaceous perennials rather than shrubs. Blooms on butterfly bushes can be
purple, pink, white, or red, and they usually have an orange “throat” in the
center.