Flower of the Week: Sweet William

The Flower of the day is Sweet William, also known as Dianthus Barbatus. Sweet William is an herbaceous biennial growing to a height of 30 – 75 cm’s. Its leaves are 4 – 10 cm’s long and 1 – 2 cm’s broad. The flowers are closely packed into bunches of 30 at the top of the stems. You can find Sweet William flowers in white, pink, red and purple. 

When you see the flower and its stems, it is clear that it is a pretty hardy flower. It can survive through the winder for the next floral season. Remember if you want to plant these from seed, prepare the seeds about 6-8 weeks before the last frost if you want them to flower the same season, otherwise if you plant them after the first frost, they will only flower next season. It has a two-year life cycle. It does tend to grow best in cool areas with sunny spots with well-drained soil. You can plant them either in containers on a balcony or on a patio as well as in the garden where you can use them for borders or just for cutting.

For many generations Sweet Williams have been used in floristry and in gardening. What is quite a nice touch to this flower is that in the Victorian language of flowers, it symbolises gallantry, finesse and Perfection. This heroic flower is also perfect for attracting birds with its nectar as well as bees and butterflies. How lovely is that! Sweet William flowers are also considered edible, so they are perfect for decorating dishes as well.

For those who are interested, Sweet Williams can be featured in bouquets as well! Recently the most famous bouquet will be Kate Middleton’s bouquet when she married Prince William. The now known Duchess of Cambridge featured the ‘Sweet Williams’ in her bouquet as a tribute to her Prince William. So if you are a lady in waiting to marry your William, it’s a rather nice touch!

Here is a display I have made for my kitchen. I have used one of my teapots and put a small bit of oasis at the bottom of the teapot, just big enough to fit through the hole of the teapot. Then, I just grouped the Sweet William flowers in groups that I liked most. Of course this will depend on whether you have bought your flowers or cut them from your own garden. But in this case I bought them and had to make-do of the selections I got. But I think it adds a lovely bit of coziness to a kitchen, just like a country cottage kitchen!

I hope you also fully enlightened and in love with this quaint little flower with a heart of a hero like I do.