Hybrid carnation

Family Caryophyllaceae. "Клубничный десерт" - a charming hybrid annual carnation F1 with a tasty name. It is distinguished by early and prolonged flowering. Very large (up to 4 cm) bright flowers abundantly cover the bushes only 20 cm tall throughout the season. This wonderful plant will adorn any flowerbed and is ideal for container cultivation.

In the Shabo carnation, or more correctly - the garden form Shabo (D. caryophyllus var schabaud), the flowers, although double, are somewhat smaller than those of the remontant greenhouse carnation, but they have a delightful carnation fragrance. This carnation is also mainly grown for cutting for bouquets. It was bred by the Toulon apothecary Shabo at the beginning of the 19th century.

GARDEN CARNATION is the ancestor of many garden carnations, including the Shabo carnation and the remontant greenhouse carnation; in the wild it occurs in Mediterranean countries. The history of the carnation as a cultivated plant began simultaneously with the history of gardening in Europe. Only after centuries of hybridization and selection were modern garden carnations created. Garden carnation is a perennial plant, in nature more often existing as a biennial or a short-lived perennial. And Shabo is more often grown as an annual; in southern regions (viticulture zone) sometimes as a biennial.

The Shabo carnation has several thin knotty stems 45-60 cm high. Leaves are opposite, sessile, narrow- or broad-linear, glaucous-green. Its roots branch sparsely and lie at a depth of 10-20 cm. Flowers are large, double, 4-6 cm in diameter, of various colors — white, yellow, pink, red, dark red and purple, borne singly or in terminal inflorescences of 2-5 flowers. The varieties of this carnation are old and rarely renewed: Мари Шабо - with yellow flowers; Жанна Дионис - with white; Этинселян and Фойер Кениг - with red; Лежьен Д'Онер - dark cherry-red; Ля Франс - light pink; Аврора - salmon-pink; Жирофле - purple; Микадо - lilac. They begin to bloom 5-6 months after sowing and bloom until autumn. Recently hybrids have appeared that compete with the old Shabo varieties. These are Luminette Mixed — with sturdy stems 60 cm high and double flowers 5 cm in diameter, of various colors, producing 20-30 flowers on a single plant per season; Knight Series Mixed — compact plants 30 cm high, flowering up to 5 months, with double flowers of all sorts of colors. These hybrids are grown in the same way as the varieties.

Location: the plants are light- and warmth-loving, but at the same time cold-hardy; they tolerate short-term frosts down to -3° C. They grow well on permeable, neutral, fertile soils without freshly applied manure. On heavy clay or poor sandy soils the carnation does not grow.

Planting: for relatively early and prolonged flowering these carnations are sown very early in January. There are 500-600 seeds per gram, retaining viability for up to 3 years. For sowing use a freshly prepared substrate of turf soil, humus, peat and sand mixed in the ratio 2:2:2:1. The mixture should be neutral in reaction. Sow so that the seeds lie in furrows pressed every 2.5-3 cm, no closer than 1 cm apart; sowing depth 3 mm. Cover the seeds with heated sand, otherwise the seedlings may be cut down by "blackleg". At 16-18°C seedlings appear very uniformly in 4-5 days. After emergence place the carnation in a well-lit place at 12-15°C. With such an early sowing the seedlings are pricked out twice. The first time at the stage of the first pair of true leaves, into small pots 5-6 cm in diameter or into a dish 6 cm high. Prick into the same substrate, but double the proportion of humus in the mix. Keep the seedlings in a well-lit place at the same temperature and ventilate in suitable weather. The second pricking is into pots 10 cm in diameter in the second half of March, when the seedlings have developed 3-4 pairs of leaves. With the onset of warm weather and positive night temperatures it is better to keep the seedlings in a spring coldframe under film, with increased daytime ventilation, at a temperature not lower than 10-12°C. At the five-leaf stage the seedlings are pinched to encourage branching. Hardened seedlings are sturdy, compact and easily tolerate spring frosts.

In autumn, apply organic fertilizers to the plot for carnations — up to 20 kg and simple superphosphate — up to 50 g per 1 m2. In spring spread potassium sulfate — up to 25 g, nitrate — 15 g per 1 m2, dig over the plot, and in early May plant out the seedlings at a distance of 20-30 cm. Plants should not be planted deeper when setting out.

Care: grow carnation with regular deep watering and give two dressings. The first dressing is ammonium nitrate — up to 15 g per 1 m2, after the seedlings have taken root, 7-8 days after planting. The second — at the bud formation stage, the same amount of ammonium nitrate plus 10-12 g potassium sulfate (per 1 m2).

Carnation stems require staking, otherwise after strong wind or rain the flowers will lie on the ground. To obtain large flowers on strong, long flower stems suitable for cutting, remove lateral buds on the stems. Flowering can be prolonged by removing faded flowers. Flowering continues until cold weather, but in cool conditions buds open slowly and the quality of the flowers deteriorates.

If desired, the plant can be dug up in autumn with a clump of earth and transplanted into a pot — it will bloom on a windowsill, loggia or glazed balcony for another month, sometimes two, and with supplementary lighting and maintaining a temperature of 12-15°C it can bloom all winter. Cuttings with two to three nodes can also be prepared, rooted in a jar of water or in moist sand, transplanted into a pot with soil and kept over the winter with good lighting and a temperature of 10-12°C. In spring plant the plants out at the same time as the seedlings. Their flowering will start earlier and be more abundant.

Usage: mainly for cutting — in water the inflorescences last at least a week. Flowers at the half-open bud stage are broken off at the sixth node, counting from the top and including the node under the terminal bud. In hot weather do this early in the morning or in the evening. Try not to damage the lateral vegetative shoot, on which a bud and flower will later form. Place cut flowers immediately in water after removing the lower leaves; change the water in the vase daily.