Gone Gardenin’: Green trick is green group courtesy green thumb

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 19/05/2016 (3511 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Late August I was privileged to help judge the Brandon Garden Club’s fall flower show along with a couple of other judges. I know several of the club’s members so I was sure that I was in for a treat and the they did not disappoint me — the quality of the show was top notch.

Whether judging or just attending as a spectator, I find horticultural shows very interesting and I always pick up new ideas about exhibiting and also find out about new plants — at least new to me.

Among the many unique and beautiful entries at the Brandon Garden Club’s show were a few cut flower and flower arrangement exhibits that used unique green dianthus blooms.

I had never seen green dianthus flowers before, but there they were, and they added such unusual colour and texture to the exhibits in which they were used that I just had to find out about them. I spoke to Gwen Beam, a longtime member, and I found out that what I was seeing a new dianthus called “Green Trick”.

Upon further investigation, I also learned that the first release of green dianthus happened a couple of years ago when a variety of florist carnation called “Green Ball” was released to the florist trade. Dianthus, carnations and sweet William are all related and members of the same plant family, so these plants can all be called dianthus.

I’m sure that the development of this plant was a reaction to the immense demand for the vibrant green florist chrysanthemums that had been released just a few years earlier and have been popular in the florist trade ever since.

Because both of these florist flowers are only available as cut flowers to the florist industry, the bedding plant trade began to clamour for the release of a green dianthus that they could sell to gardeners as bedding plants.

I think last year was the first year this happened when greenhouses were able to purchase plugs of a dianthus variety called “Green Trick”. Gwen told me she got her plants at a Winnipeg greenhouse as none was available locally — hopefully that will change this year.

The florist version, “Green Ball”, has lush spherical globes atop long sturdy stems that can be 50 centimetres long. The long leaves that are attached to the carnation-type stems are glossy dark green and the vase life is astounding — up to four weeks.

The bedding plant version, called “Green Trick”, is a slightly smaller plant with shorter stems and smaller flowers. The plants get about 35 to 40 centimetres tall and the blooms are not quite as spherical, but slightly flattened, and they are somewhat smaller — just the perfect size for a home gardener to grow for show in the garden or to use as cut flowers.

“Green Trick” dianthus are non-petalled flowering forms of sweet William. Many of you will have observed that sweet William bedding plants have come into their own the last few years. Sweet William was previously grown mainly from seed as a biennial or short-lived perennial, but now there are many sweet William hybrids sold as annual bedding plants in the spring.

The blooms of Dianthus barbatus “Green Trick” that I saw at the flower show in Brandon were vibrant green pompoms — compact, lush, and rather fuzzy looking.

The flowers were so unusual and so striking that I am going to try my best to find some plants this spring. Seed is not available; the plants are still only sold to greenhouses as plugs, so they will be in short supply and probably fairly expensive.

Although you might think that green flowers will not make much of an impression in the outdoor landscape, this particular plant will definitely make an impact in the garden. Because their colour allows them to be paired with any other colour of flower, these plants can be used in creative plant combinations or in unique ways.

I will probably grow them in my cutting garden so that I can use them in floral designs, but I think a few of these plants would make a great addition to a mixed container or to an edging design if they were alternated with another plant with more colourful flowers — maybe even another variety of dianthus.

Next year for our local horticultural show, I hope to create an all-green arrangement, using some “Green Trick” dianthus blooms as well as some green gladioli spikes, maybe a few stems of bells of Ireland, or some green ‘Envy’ zinnias.

If you are interested in growing an unusual flowering plant this summer, look for “Green Trick” dianthus at your favourite garden centre.

Albert Parsons lives, writes, and gardens in Minnedosa.

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