Plant of the week - Sweet William 'Sooty' - Dianthus barbatus nigrescens

Sweet william is a favourite of mine, but this variety puts a twist on the traditional cottage garden classic. I originally bought seed packet of both a mixed assortment and this 'black' variety. After the initial wait of sowing seeds and nurturing them to their first bloom in their second year, they now seed themselves and appear in the garden in various spots spreading their cheery pink, white and red cushions of blooms which of course are a magnet for bees and butterflies.

Sweet William 'Sooty' - Dianthus barbatus nigrescens

The rich velvety tones you can see in this photo are actually from a third generation sowing of 'Sooty', so this offspring is not true to the darker blacker originals, but it has a beauty of its own making, a deep intense red that Anish Kapoor would be envious of. The stems have a dark ruddy-purple hue as do the leaves, making them a fantastic plant to contrast against a pale foliage or white flowers.

I don't treat these as biennials, but more like the perennials they really are, so I keep them going for a few years. They do get a big straggly from their third year but if they are mixed in with other similar hight plants (mine are next to the crocosmia and contrast well with their dagger-like leaves) then you wouldn't notice their raggedy behaviour.

I bought the original seeds from Thompson & Morgan.