I do both.

Here it sometimes starts to blooms quite early, so I try to tuck in a few around peonies or other early bloomers.. I found that if I spaced them out around later flowering plants, it looked quite blotchy to have a few splashes of early color amid the rest of my mostly still brown garden. My seed grown plants were quite variable in color and height. Some were under 8 inches and others were clise to two feet tall. It was a mix from Botanical interests.

Here is a morning sun spot of sweet Williams mostly still in bud, in front of foxgloves from June. In full sun they have started to flower earlier than here. They are reblooming now but look kind of ratty. My seed started plants have lived 3 years but I do cut a lot for bouquets and when flowering slows down I shear them back.

I took this picture with my phone and have cropped it so I hope it shows upright.

I can almost smell your picture ....

Your picture of sweet William is beautiful! Thanks so much for the info and taking time to post. I do appreciate your help! I was hoping the plant would bloom throughout the summer months but I think it must be early summer more than all summer. Right?

mary_max - Dianthus barbatus/Sweet William is a biennial spring/early summer bloomer, meaning it grows foliage the first year & blooms the second year, then dies. I've had some live for 3 or more years but after that they either disappear or have self-seeded thereby replacing themselves.

I've used it as a specimen plant in my part-sun beds knowing it wouldn't be perennial but have enjoyed the bright, neon-colored blooms the past few years. If you want fragrant, perennial dianthus/pinks you're better off planting Dianthus caryophyllus or plumarius, both of which have been reliably perennial in my garden + were easily grown from seed. I winter sowed several types and have enjoyed watching the clumps expand each year.

Annoyingly, these are rarely sold in single colours so I tend to grow them as a 'crop', much like I do dahlias and glads - just for cutting. They also seem to flower around the same time - late July and on through the summer

One of my favorite all time scents is the sweet William . I wonder ... could you let the color you like reseed and dead head the less favorable color ? I have done this with bachelor buttons and for yrs. had only purple ones in my garden .

In my zone 5 Iowa garden they definitely work as spring/early summer bloomers. I don't get good flowering throughout the summer. The ones that are reblooming currently look pretty pathetic now that I've gone to take a good look. I made several bouquets for an event in early July and already I had no sweet Williams suitable for cutting. I imagine there are ways to manipulate bloom times. I think there are some that bloom first year from seed so maybe those would flower during the summer if started from seed in the spring. Or maybe it depends in the amount if heat? Campanula, do your summers stay pretty mild?

Here's a single plant I deadheaded and it is now just a pleasant bit of glossy green foliage. This is a full sun garden but the sweet will is shaded by other plants. I've noticed some just die out by now. As grdenweed mentioned above, they are generally biennial or short lived perennials.

They are one of my all time favorites. The fragrance is one of the best flower scents, IMO. I find some fragrances overwhelming, but not sweet William. I have never grown the carnation (d. caryophyllus mentioned) as I thought they were fussy. Hmmm...I will have to revisit them! :)

I saved seeds from a low growing pink one as Sammy mentioned. I am hoping the offspring will resemble those plants.

One can buy single color varieties from a place like Geoseed. For example, they have 11 colors of the Barbarini series available, single color packets, or mix, $3.30 for a packet if 100 seeds. Swallowtail seeds also has two red varieties for sale. If you like buying open pollinated seeds though, I think you are more likely to end up with mixes.

This post was edited by trovesoftrilliums on Thu, Aug 1, 13 at 12:10