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Dianthus 'Gloriosa' (Silver Pink) - A beautiful perennial with narrow blue-gray foliage that trails along the ground to form a low growing mound 8 to 12 inches tall by several feet wide. In late spring to mid-summer appear the fragrant double lavender pink flowers that have a touch of red at the base of the petals near the center of the flower.
Best planted in full sun but will grow nicely in part sun to light shade. Irrigate infrequently to only occasionally – a summer dry growing plant once established. Hardy to below 0 °F (to USDA Zone 5). This is a great little pink for the dry garden but very hard to keep nice in a nursery container. The fragrance, reminiscent of clove, hints at the heritage of this plant as it was thought to be the result of crossing a pink (Dianthus plumarius) with the carnation (Dianthus caryophyllus).
Dianthus 'Gloriosa' is an old hybrid thought to have been bred in the 1700's in Scotland and then lost in cultivation until rediscovered by Leone Bell in a Seattle, Washington garden in 1980, who reintroduced the plant calling it "Seattle Shaggy" before determining that it was the older cultivar 'Gloriosa'. The name of the genus comes from the Greek words 'Dios' meaning "of Zeus" and 'anthos' meaning "flower" so means the "flower of Zeus" as was cited by the Greek botanist Theophrastus. Th origin of the common name "pink" usd for these Dianthus varieties is thought to have come from the pinksten (or pfingsten), the German name for flowers that bloomed during Pentecost (also known as Whitsuntide), the Christian holiday that takes place 49 days after Easter). Another thought is that this name references the "pinked" jagged edges of the petals as though trimmed by pinking shears.
Our thanks go out to John Bleck for our original cuttings of this great little plant, to the late Shirley Kirens at the Huntington Botanic Garden for identifying it for us and to Peggy Cornett at Montecello for some additional information she provided in her article >Pinks, Gilliflowers, & Carnations: The Exalted Flowers. We first offered this plant in 2005 and is has long been a favorite of local Santa Barbara gardeners.
Information displayed on this page about Dianthus 'Gloriosa' is based on our research conducted about this plant in our nursery library as well as from information provided by reliable online resources. We also include our own observations made about it as it has grown in the nursery gardens and other gardens visited, as well how the crops of this plant performed in the containers in our nursery field. We will also include comments received from others and welcome hearing from anyone who has information about this plant, particularly if it includes cultural information aiding others to better grow it.
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