You've watched your beautiful carnations plants bloom all season. They have a certain way of spreading out, even invading other spaces in your garden, often cramping some of the other plants you're trying to grow for added dimension. Somehow though, it doesn't seem to be that big of a problem when you see so many gorgeous blooms gracing the garden. Carnations are exceptionally pretty, and their fragrance fills the air every time a gentle breeze playfully nudges them.

"Ah, let them be," you think to yourself, as you develop a fondness for them far above the other landscaping you've purposely created. Their foliage is a smoky green-gray; it almost looks as though it is covered in a permanent frost, but not quite. Their thin stalks are knotted along the path to their cup of life, the flower that attracts friend and foe to gather together, enjoying their tender presence.

Carnations tend to multiply quite easily. Those knotty stalks lay down, pushing new roots and sprouting new stems where blooms will grow as well. The season for carnations extends quite naturally. As long as the weather is not too hot or too cold, they will grow and flourish, thickening their domain and expanding it each and every year.

There comes a time when old foliage dies off, as carnations are generally considered annuals. You watch as those big button blossoms gradually turn brown, beginning at the edges and working their way to the stems. Part of you wants to discard the dead debris, but another part urges you to wait. Carnations need to create lots of blooms in order to form seeds. They are in fact male and female buds, and only certain ones will carry the seeds to grow new plants.

Pollens must interact, with the help of a few insects, those light breezes, and bumping into each other in the garden. When they do, new growth takes place, and a handful of the pods impregnate, expanding and filling their base with new life. This happens toward the end of the season, while the plants are still tender, but their color is slowly fading. You must wait until everything looks dead to gather the buds and open their pods.

It's good to open the pods right there in the garden. The dead plants can be used as mulch, while you determine which pods have seeds. There's no need to worry about replanting any seeds in this garden. The plants have already multiplied by spreading out their stems, and they will do so again next year too. You can collect a small baggie of pods with seeds and sift them at your leisure, carefully opening each one and gathering its gift.

Learn more about this author, M. J. Joachim.
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