Hi all, below is some growing tips on how to grow your new Border Carnations.
These are not stopped, and this is very important as the central stem is this year’s flower, if this is snapped then the plant will not flower this year, but if by accident the growing stem is snapped and this can easily happen then do not worry, yes you will not have a flower this year but the plant grows a lot of basal growth and these are next year’s plants or flowers as you can just grow on and allow the stems to flower or use these as cuttings to expand your collection and these will be exact replicas of the parent plant.
The potting on is the same as Perpetuals, the only difference is the stem will need supporting via a cane as the stem will elongate very rapidly once daylight hours improve. Attach the stem to the cane by using twist ties or wire rings that are used by Sweet Pea growers, we attach the stem after every node but leave the top few nodes to develop before attaching the stem to the cane as this allows the stem to strengthen rather than having support and therefore feeling the need not to strengthen, a bit like a sapling tree.
We keep feed to a minimum for our Borders, only using such when the bloom is showing colour as we want nice formed blooms and overfeeding can cause coarse blooms with several centres.
In the early days of growth some of the leaves look as if they are stuck together, do not worry this is not problem with the plant it is due to the lack of light in the winter and early spring, once light levels improve this becomes less of a problem, to separate the leaves then do so by gently separating them, we use a label but you must be careful as sometimes they are stuck together firmly.
If the leaves stick together then do not worry as this is due to lack of light and will improve when daylight hours lengthen.
Please let me know in the comments below if you have any questions on growing these wonderful flowers.
Happy growing.
K