Interesting Fact of the Day...

Flowers grown from seed in my garden

This long-stemmed, pale pink bloom, with the wonderful scent of sugar and cloves, is a French heirloom variety from the early 19th century. Alongside roses, it is one of the oldest cultivated and beloved flowers in our history- the carnation.

Much like roses, its reputation was marred in the 1970’s, due to garish, non-scented varieties found in every grocery store and gas station, but THIS ruffled, scented delight is what the carnation is meant to be.

These flowers have been cultivated for at least 2000 years. An old fresco of carnations once graced the wall of a house in Pompeii.

It was said to be the favourite flower of the Greek goddess of hunting, Diana, hence their genus name “Dianthus“.

Because they were so revered by Diana, the Romans (who loved anything Greek) would wear crowns of carnations around their head. It was THE flower of coronations.

After Shakespeare himself wrote about it being a coronation flower, the word eventually evolved into...carnation.