Dianthus barbatus ‘Sooty’

Sweet William is an old-fashioned cottage garden plant that usually grows as a self seeding biennial. This midsized strain produces a mound of bronze-purple leaves, bearing showy clusters of unique chocolate-red to black flowers for several weeks. Excellent as a cut flower. Remove fading flowers to encourage more buds to form. Pruning plants back hard after blooming will encourage them to survive for another year. Self-sown seedlings may be moved in fall or early spring. This plant is botanically the same as Dianthus barbatus ‘Nigrescens', which is actually its proper name.