This week’s post is one I’ve been putting together for over a year. At last the timing is right to publish. I hope it will be of use to anyone who likes “recycling” and raising plants for free.

A wee while ago I celebrated a “big” birthday. One of my friends sent me a very lavish bouquet containing many varieties of flowers. One bloom in particular caught my eye because it was not a favourite of mine.

The carnation (Dianthus) is a mainstay in many a flowery bunch.  It is great value and lasts for a very long time in  a vase of water. The carnation went out of fashion for the very same reasons that it is back in fashion today. However, my birthday-bouquet carnation wasn’t a patch on other varieties I’d seen. It had rich peach-coloured petals with a red frilly detail. It was a real beauty and changed my opinion of the flower there and then.

A few months before my birthday, I’d been staying with my Mum and she had had a jug of green shoots on her window-sill. They were carnation cuttings which had rooted and she was about to plant in her garden. I could hardly believe that they would be so easy to root and grow on, naturally I had to have a go myself. Above is one of the cuttings from my original birthday carnations in full bloom last summer, 3 years after taking the cuttings from the original stems.

There are 2 simple ways to root carnation cuttings: one is simply in a pot of water on the window-sill (like my Mum did) and the other is with rooting powder and a pot of compost. If you fancy a go, the best time of year to do it is  from now and into early summer when the weather is warm.

Select side shoots from carnation stems that don’t have any flower buds on them. They should look healthy and have 4 or 5 sets of leaves on them. Trim off the bottom pair of leaves and cut the stem just below a joint.

To root in water, simply pop the cuttings in a jam jar of water and leave on a light window-sill, out of direct sunlight. Change the water every 2-3 days. After 3-4 weeks you should begin to see thread-like roots appearing from the joint on the stem.

Once the roots appear, lightly dust the rooted ends in a little hormone rooting powder and plant in compost. Keep watered and in a well-lit, warm area out of direct sunlight – an unheated greenhouse is ideal. Once the plants are strong and established, plant outside in late summer.

You can also root carnation cuttings by adding them straight to compost. Dip the ends of the cuttings in hormone rooting powder and place in compost. Cover with a clear plastic bag or cloche and sit on a warm, well-lit window-sill, not in direct sunlight. Keep watered. After 3 to 4 weeks the cuttings should have rooted. Remove the bag and keep the cuttings  in the same way as the water-rooted cuttings above until they are ready to plant outside in a few weeks.

My carnations have been flowering on and off for the last 3 years. This spring, the stems had become very long and “leggy”. I trimmed them right down, leaving a few shoots in situ, and from the stalks I cut down, I took some more cuttings. Now I’m starting again with another batch of cuttings and looking forward to populating other areas of the garden with some very attractive carnation stems later on in the year.

I was amazed to see that even the tight flower buds I removed from my cuttings burst into flower after a few days indoors, which just goes to show that the carnation really is a great value flower. Happy blooming 🙂