Currently carnations are among the most popular flowers of florists, but many people are unaware how easy it is to grow them in an outdoor garden. They include two varieties, the outdoor garden variety and the indoor forcing variety. The carnation is usually a perennial, meaning that it blooms again each year without replanting for more than two flowering seasons. The garden variety is usually treated like an annual, and though the forcing variety only flowers once, growing new carnations from cuttings allows them to continue to flower each year.

Marguerite, or garden carnations flower in the same year you sow the seed. If you make sure to provide slight protection from the elements, it will bloom freely a second year. If you pot carnations in the autumn, they make beautiful plants for inside your house. You need to sow the seeds in boxes in March and set the young plants outside as early as possible, pinching out the center of the plant so that they will be able to branch freely. In the summer the plants are grown outside rather than in pots, thus they are transplanted from the cutting-box. You should plant them in moderately rich and loose soil and give them clean cultivation throughout the summer. Be sure to frequently pinch out the tops.

The best way to grow carnations from cuttings is from the suckers that form around the stem's base, the side shoots of the flowering steam, or the main shoots before any flower buds begin to show. In most cases, the cuttings from the base make the best plants. You can take carnation cuttings from a plant any time during the autumn or winter, root it in sand and pot it until it's time to put it outside in the spring. You must be sure to pinch out the tops of the young plants both while they are growing in the pot and when you put them in the ground to allow them to grow stock and sprout new growths along the stem. The young plants should be grown in a cool climate, with a temperature of around 45„a being quite suitable. It's also important to spray the cuttings daily to prevent infestation by the red spider, which is quite attracted to carnations.