Dianthus

The classic clove-scented carnation, a short-lived evergreen perennial in the pink family grown for centuries for its frilled, spice-fragrant double flowers and tidy mounds of narrow blue-gray foliage. Native to the Mediterranean region, it thrives in full sun and lean, sharply drained, neutral-to-alkaline soil with steady but never soggy moisture, and is hardy in USDA zones 6a-9b. It is the florist's carnation and the parent of countless border and perpetual-flowering strains, prized as much for cutting as for the garden.

A classic cottage-garden member of the pink family (Caryophyllaceae), native to the European mountains (Pyrenees, Carpathians, Balkans). NC State Extension describes a dense, erect, rounded plant 1-2 feet tall and 6-12 inches wide, with narrow lance-shaped, grayish- to blue-green leaves and flat, rounded, dense clusters of fragrant, often bicolor flowers in shades from white through intense red and purple in spring. It can be grown as an annual, biennial, or short-lived perennial; this record treats it as the short-lived perennial it is across its USDA zone 3-9 range. Bees and butterflies work the bloom clusters, and the plant is deer and rabbit resistant.