Sweet
William
Hardy Bulb.
One to two feet.
Flowers of several colours, July and August.
An indispensable old favourite, hardy, easily
grown, and apparently disease-proof.
It is one of the Dianthus
family, but unlike the Carnation,
will grow almost anywhere.
Its flowers both single and double, are in broad
heads; their colours comprise white, pink, rose,
cherry, salmon, light and deep crimson, black
purple, either as selfs or banded and parti-coloured.
Sow the seed in drills half an inch deep in the
open ground in June; prick out the seedlings as
soon as possible eight inches apart on good ground;
transfer to flowering quarters in October or November,
lifting the fibrous roots carefully.
Sweet Williams may be planted in groups of two
or three in mixed borders, or in quantity in plots
or beds.
Occasionally, a few plants survive the first season’s
flowering; but as a general rule it is not worth
keeping the old plants; if they do their duty
they flower themselves to death the first year.
A good packet of mixed seed will produce hundreds
of fine plants.
Seed of a white, a dark crimson variety, or of
the charming “Pink Beauty” may be
separately raised.
See also : Dianthus Alpine
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