Prepare for pink days ahead d

For those of you who have pinks or border carnations, this is the moment to take new cuttings. Most varieties tend to grow scruffy with age. New plants will be more vigorous and will flower more profusely.

Cuttings taken this weekend will produce healthy young plants by october. Each should flower modestly next summer and abundantly for several summers after that.

Begin by gathering basal, non-flowering shoots. Growth habits of pinks vary but most develop dense clusters of vegetative shoots below the flowering stems. Each of these is a potential cutting.

Select a few of the plumpest and cleanest shoots from each plant. If you’re gathering different varieties, have polythene bags handy and slip a label into each. on lowgrowing - pinks, many shoots willll have slightly curved stems withh obvious leaf- joints. That’s perfectly normal and they’ll stilll make good cuttings.

The easiest rooting method is to fill small pots or half-trays with a 50/50 mix of sharp sand and potting compost. Aboutt five cuttings should fit into a 7cm or 9cm pot.

After gathering your cuttings, carefully remove the lowest leaves. Cut each stem cleanly across a low leaf-joint.

Slip your cuttings into thee potting compost and firm themm in. Water the pots and placee them in a cold- frame orr sheltered spot. Keep the rooting medium moist. The young pinks will be ready for planting out next March or April.