"Simon Tomlinson" wrote in
:

I am an enthusiastic amateur, filling lots of pots and some borders
with easy plants each year. Last year I planted Dianthus for the
first time. I love the flowers and was looking forward to them coming
back each year. Of the 6 plants I put in the front garden, none have
come back this year, not a trace.

What did I do wrong? The soil is quite sandy and poor, but I dig left
over compost in regularly and this has helped other bedding.

Any ideas?


Most dianthus take very easily from cuttings, so if you buy a new batch,
you might like to take cuttings in autumn as a backup and keep them on a
windowsill or something. If you get it right overwintering them outside
this time, I am sure you can find another place for the spares!

I have found they are often not very long-lived plants, so apart from the
suggestions already made, if the ones you planted were quite big, they
might just have been too old to make it through the winter?

Victoria
--
gardening on a north-facing hill
in South-East Cornwall
--