Dianthus Fruit Punch® 'Cranberry Cocktail'

Dianthus Fruit Punch® 'Cranberry Cocktail': Magenta Doubles, Spicy Perfume

Somebody ordered a 'Cranberry Cocktail' and the bartender clearly went heavy on the pour. Big, fully double, hot magenta flowers with ruffled tips, sitting low and looking like the life of the patio. LAST CALL? NEVER HEARD OF IT.

Plant Characteristics:

• Botanical Name: Dianthus hybrid
• Common Name: Pinks
• Series: Fruit Punch®, a Proven Winners® perennial
• Height: 20–25 cm (8–10 in)
• Spread: 30–36 cm (12–14 in)
• Flowers: Large, fully double, hot magenta pink with serrated petal tips, carnation-like and fragrant
• Bloom Time: Early summer, with rebloom after shearing (June to August)
• Foliage: Grey-green, forming a low, dense, evergreen mound
• Features: Fragrant, heat and salt tolerant, good for cutting
• Plant Patent: USPP 28,603 / Can 5,814

Where to Plant: Plant it at the front of a sunny border, along a path, in a rock garden or in a container by the door. Salt tolerance means it can handle the strip along the driveway. The flowers are big enough to cut for a small vase.

Companion Plants: Set these magenta pinks in front of Amsonia 'Storm Cloud', whose blue stars at 61 to 76 cm open in May and June just ahead of the first dianthus flowers. Gaura Rosyjane adds airy bicolour blooms on wiry stems from June to September, a light touch beside the dense dianthus mounds. Close the season with Aster 'Wood's Light Blue', a low aster that blooms from August to October. Sun or part sun suits the whole group.

Plant Care: Plant in full sun to part sun, in average, well-drained soil, ideally neutral to slightly alkaline. Pinks don't like wet feet in winter, so improve heavy clay with grit or plant on a slight rise. Water through the first season, then mainly in long dry spells. Shear off spent flowers after the first flush to tidy the mound and encourage more blooms. Leave the foliage over winter and tidy it up in spring. Divide every few years if the clump opens in the middle.

History: 'Cranberry Cocktail' was bred by Hans Hansen in Zeeland, Michigan, home of Walters Gardens, from a 2011 cross between Dianthus 'WP Passion' and 'Devon Flavia'. It was picked out in 2012 for its fully double, bright flowers.

Final Thoughts: Heat, drought and road salt? It treats them like a cover charge and walks right in. SHEAR IT ONCE AND IT'S BACK ON THE DANCE FLOOR.