SUMMER AT ITS SWEETEST
For intense fragrance and striking colour, nothing holds a candle to Sweet Williams
WHAT do William the Conqueror, William Shakespeare and St William, the 12th Century Archbishop of York, have in common? Well, apart from sharing the same first name, they are all considered candidates for inspiring the common name of a classic cottage-garden flower.
Sweet Williams are without doubt one of our best-loved plants thanks to their brightly coloured blooms that pack an intense, clovelike scent. But what nobody can agree on is quite who these midspring to late-summer gems were named after in the first place.
Another popular theory is that the sobriquet honours Prince William Augustus, the Duke of Cumberland, after his victory against the Jacobites at the Battle of Culloden. The Duke returned to London as a hero and supporters dubbed him ‘Sweet William’. On the other hand, his opponents called him ‘Butcher Cumberland’, and north of the border, ragwort – a common weed with unpleasant-smelling leaves – has long been known as ‘Stinking Billy’.
My advice is to leave all this wrangling over name to plant historians, and to find a spot for these plants in your beds and borders so you can enjoy a great display next year. They can be started from seed in summer, but plug plants and bare-root specimens are available now.
SWEET Williams are largely native to the mountains of southern Europe, from the Pyrenees to the Balkans, and belong to the dianthus family – a group of about 300 species of perennials, biennials and annuals that are often noted for their scented flowers. Other members include carnations and pinks.
Wild Sweet Williams (Dianthus barbatus) are bushy, short-lived perennials that carry clusters of pink or red flowers on 2ft stems in late spring and early summer. Plant-breeding has since led to scores of showy varieties that vary in height, colour and shape.
It is uncertain when Sweet Williams were first grown in Britain, but their first mention in print was in 1597. Over the centuries they became a mainstay of cottage gardens and were at their peak of popularity with 19th Century gardeners – in the Victorian language of flowers, Sweet Williams symbolised gallantry.
The flowers retain a romantic association. A sprig of Sweet Williams was arranged with lily-of-the-valley, myrtle and hyacinth in the bouquet carried by Kate Middleton at her 2011 wedding to Prince William. The variety was most likely Dianthus barbatus ‘Alba’.
Lighter-coloured Sweet Williams such as ‘Alba’ certainly make a big impact in the garden when planted en masse, but I prefer those with more vibrant flowers. ‘Scarlet Beauty’ has single, brilliant red flowers, and ‘Oeschberg’ displays its purplish blooms on 2 ft stems clothed with bronze foliage.
‘Sooty’ is really eye-catching, with large maroon flowers that sit above a mound of bronze-purple leaves from June until early September. ‘Blackjack’ is even more dramatic, with inky-black flowers on 18 in stems, although its foliage is a more mundane green colour.
If you can’t decide on an individual colour, there are plenty of mixes to choose from. ‘Sweet’ is a range of red, white and purple flowers that have been chosen for the potency of their perfume, while ‘Vesuvio’ come in a mixture of pink, red, purple and white. Sweet Williams prefer a sunny spot and will do well in neutral to alkaline soils that are free-draining – they will tend to sulk if planted in acidic ground and could rot if they sit in saturated soil for any length of time. These plants are fully hardy so can go directly into the ground with no fear about how they will cope over winter. Due to their relatively modest height, Sweet Williams are best close to the front of beds and borders. They make great partners for foxgloves, Hesperis matronalis, alliums and Antirrhinum majus. Once they’ve been planted, they are easy to look after. Water plants occasionally during dry periods to prevent them flagging, especially when flower buds form. Some gardeners like to feed them to boost the display, but I’ve always found this encourages lanky growth. Individual plants will flower for longer if you remove fading blooms to prevent them setting seed. However, with plants that produce so many flowers, this can be a timeconsuming process. The other option is to cut the entire plant back by half with shears when most of the flowers have started to fade.
Pruning in this way will keep them compact, although the stems will become woodier and the dis- play poorer with every passing year. Due to this, many gardeners treat them as biennials, disposing of them after flowering and replacing with fresh seedlings.