Carnations, Dianthus caryophyllus, is the traditional flower of Mother's Day. From it's inception, carnations where the flower associated with Mother. Traditionally, one wears a White Carnation on Mother's Day to signify that her mother has passed and a Red Carnation to signify that her mother is still living. Though this is not done as much today in California (I don't know about elsewhere) but is is a lovely tradtion which is still practiced by some traditionalist. Too often today, customers in the US say NO CARNATIONS when placing their orders. This sometimes makes me a little sad as I think carnations have gotten a bad rap!

Carnations are a wonderful flower which is long lasting, fragrant and comes in a plethora of colors, sizes, varieties and form. Because of their popularity in Europe and Asia growers continue to develope new cultivars and so there is more variety in this genus today than ever before. Carnations are a wonderful flower which lend themselves to a variety of design styles but unfortunately they are too often used in a very mundane, old-fashioned manner which only works to their detriment. As carnations have been one of my favorites since I was a child and planted my own garden of cuttings along side our house  I have decided to tell other's a bit about this amazing flower.

Carnations have long been regarded as a workhorse in many floral shops and with good cause, they are wonderfully long-lasting, affordable and very available. All too often, however, designers choose to use them without thought as filler flower rather than as a featured , strong, dynamic flower creating lines, emotion and form. Many florist simply consider carnations too common and simply toss them aside. Indeed, the very virtues of this flower have led to their devaluation. The fact that they are long lasting and affordable might cause many florist to "push" more lucrative flowers than to suggest carnations.

With their excellent vase life of 15 to 21 days and their affordability consumers would be well advised to accept Carnations as a part of their overall floral consumption. The table below sorts out the varieties of carnations generally available.

Common Name	Botanical Name	Description	Fragrance
Standard Carnation	Dianthus caryophyllus	Single stem flower, 1-3" in diameter	Mild to Strong, varies by variety
Mini Carnation	Dianthus caryophyllus nana	3-5 flowers per stem, each flower 1-2" in diameter	Mild to Medium
Sweet William	Dianthus spp	2-3" cluster of flowers on single stem.	Strong

Buy carnations when they are at least partially open and show full color. The stems should be smooth, sandy textured stems denote flowers which have been cut too long.  Currently the price for cut carnations is anywhere from .50 to 1.50 per stem depending on location and season. Nearly always we have cut carnations in our 10 stem market packs which retail for $4.99.