How to Trim a Dianthus

Dianthus flowers may be annual, biennial or perennial, and most return readily in next year’s garden. Annuals, if allowed, re-seed themselves. Biennials will return for one year while perennials come back for several seasons. Members of the dianthus family bloom best in the spring and fall, when cooler temperatures stimulate flowering. Dianthus sports frilly flowers with ruffled edges that are commonly called pinks. This name originated not from the flower’s color but because the petal’s edge looks as if it were trimmed with pinking shears. Removal of wilting blooms ensures the return of the often fragrant flowers next year.

Pruners
Fertilizer

Instructions

- 1
  Deadhead dianthus, removing spent flower heads from the stem. These may be pinched off by hand or clipped with small garden clippers ¼-inch above the first set of leaves down. Use small, sharp pruners when trimming the delicate dianthus. Remove all dead and browning foliage.
- 2
  Trim back blooms before they begin producing seeds. Flowers allowed to set seed signal the plant to cease flowering.
- 3
  Trim and deadhead until temperatures soar in summer or until frost arrives in autumn. When summer temperatures heat up it is best to trim dianthus further down to encourage more flowers when temperatures wane in autumn. The removal of spent flowers encourages abundant bloom. Remove no more than 33 percent of the plant. Fall fertilization also helps the plant bloom more profusely next spring.
- 4
  Remove the flowers on just-purchased and just-planted plants. This trimming rewards the gardener with a more spectacular display of dianthus blooms.

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