Dianthus plumarius Mrs Sinkins

Dianthus 'Mrs Sinkins' is one of the most popular carnations among gardeners. This very old variety produces a profusion of white double flowers in late spring, which are distinguished by their feathery appearance. Their fragrance is so strong that a simple bouquet can perfume an entire room. It can easily be propagated by cuttings, meaning you can quickly create beautiful borders at a lower cost. It is a problem-free perennial. Perfect in well-drained soil in the sun. It is fantastic in borders, rockeries, or even in pots.

'Mrs Sinkins' belongs to the Caryophyllaceae family. It is an English cultivar dating back to 1868, resulting from cross-breeding between Dianthus plumarius, D. caryophyllus, and D. gratianopolitanus among others. Its growth rate is quite fast. Its adult size will not exceed 35cm (14in) in height with a spread of 40cm (16in) or more. This carnation forms a dense tuft, from which a profusion of 4 to 5cm (2in) wide double flowers with intensely and finely fringed petals emerge in May-June, carried at the end of well-budded stems. Its linear, glabrous, pruinose-looking, pointed, evergreen, and leathery leaves are a superb grey-blue colour throughout the year.

'Mrs Sinkins' is an elegant and prolific variety. It is ideal in borders, embankments, and dry rockeries. It brings undeniable charm to a garden design dominated by stone. This plant looks lovely above and between the stones of a wall or pavement, in a trough, or in a container. In borders, it can, for example, accompany muscari, small lavenders, catmints, or other flowering cushions such as helianthemums, silenes, Phlox subulata, and Erigeron karvinskianus. To evoke gardens of the past, one can plant a small border of these charming carnations at the foot of peony clumps and old roses. They adapt very well to cultivation in pots, in light soil.