Cool-season Amazon dianthus rocks garden world

By Norman Winter | Mcclatchy Newspapers • Published November 15, 2008

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Pinks or dianthus are among the most loved cool-season flowers. While they are described as cool-season flowers, varieties like the Amazon series perform in the cool season and for much of the summer, too, giving us combination possibilities we might never have considered.

Once in Mississippi State University trials, we partnered Amazon Rose Magic with Tidal Wave Silver petunia. Another year, we partnered Amazon Neon Cherry with Lucky Pot of Gold lantana.

In addition to using the Amazon dianthus as a pansy partner or growing it with flowering kale, cabbage and cardoon, the Amazon might be one of the most striking flowers you can use as the thriller plant in mixed containers.

In case you are not familiar with the current recipe trend for mixed containers, it is "thriller, filler and spiller," or "tall, small and fall."

One container I saw featuring the Amazon dianthus in a wonderful early-summer design had Amazon Neon Purple as the center, or thriller, plant. This plant reaches out and grabs you with its beauty and interest.

The filler plant was Flambe Orange chrysocephalum. This tough-as-nails plant produces small, button-like, yellow flowers on striking, olive gray-green foliage.

The spiller plant cascading over the rim was Silver Falls dichondra. This plant has the ability to literally plummet out of containers.

The Amazon series of dianthus features four colors: Neon Cherry, Neon Duo (a mix of Neon Cherry and Neon Purple), Neon Purple and Rose Magic. Rose Magic starts white and ages to pink, then deep rose, so you'll see all three colors at once.

So go to your garden center this weekend and look for the Amazon dianthus and other cool-season performers. They will be simply dazzling in your landscape.