Carnation

Caring for your carnations

Look closely at a carnation stem and you will see swollen joints spaced along it. Always cut between two joints rather than through one; a cut through the node blocks the stem and the flower cannot drink.

Change the water every three or four days and recut a little each time. Carnations are not fussy and reward very little effort.

They are unusually sensitive to ethylene, the gas given off by ripening fruit. A bowl of bananas on the same table will noticeably shorten their life. Move one or the other.

Keep them cool and out of direct sun. Buds on spray carnations open over the following days, so the arrangement fills out as it goes.