What is sweet William?

Sweet William is a common name for a flower in the Dianthus family, which consists of more than 300 types of flowers including carnation. Sweet William, or Dianthus barbatus is a biennial that comes in various pink colors. It prefers light soil and can grow well in sunny or partly sunny places. Although there is no verifiable healing use for Sweet William to date, it has become a popular edible flower in recent years.

Sweet William Flower came in southern Europe and Asia, with some varieties found to the north as Russia. It produces clusters of flowers in white, pink, red and purple. Recently, Dianthus Barbatus has been grown in many different color variations, either solid or a mixture of colors. The flower petals are serrated and have rough edges. Sweet William generally grows from 12 to 24 inches (about 0.3 m to 0.6 m) high.

Sweet William is a biennial, ie a two -year life cycle, production only in the first year. The seeds sowedIn the first year of flowering in the spring of the second year. For this reason, sweet William is often used as an annual. Flowering diaanthus can be planted every season rather than waiting for two years than flowers bloom.

Dianthus barbatus is a herbal plant. Herbal plants have a relatively soft, green stem and die when the weather cools. However, the seeds can survive the winter quite well and produce flowers in the spring. Sweet William generally blooms at the beginning of the growing season and continues to flowering until the first frost.

This flower spreads preferably through seeds, although it can be grown from cuttings or root distribution. Sweet William prefers slightly alkaline soil in sunny places. Thanks to its short figure, Dianthus is a good plant for the front of the pots in Borders and for container gardens.

ancient culture believed that the addition of petals sweet William to the wine or vinegar createdA tonic that would calm the nerves. However, the scientific community has to verify any healing uses for the race. In recent years, Dianthus has been listed as an edible flower. It can be used as a decoration in salads and desserts. It was also reported that petals cut off from the bitter white base of the flower have the aroma and taste of a clove or nut.