Fruit Punch^® 'Sweetie Pie' Pinks Dianthus hybrid

I ordered 2, quart size through PW in Fall of 2020, arriving the first of Oct. The shipment was held up on it's way by an extra 3 days due to the horrible wild fire smoke conditions at that time. These tough little beauties came out of the box blooming and continued to bloom into Dec (I am in Zone 8b) albeit sparsely. The foliage looked great all winter while they slowly grew larger. By May they were full size and exploded with non-stop blooms! As I write it is the very end of June. Since mid-May I have deadheaded (by choice to keep the blooms coming) ~10-15 heads a day and the number of optimal blooms has not diminished. They completely cover the plant at varying heights. I get so many compliments from neighbors and strangers. We have had an unusual heat wave (>100) which has lightened the vibrancy of pink a little but otherwise the plants have just shrugged off the heat. They were one of the best purchases I have made in the last 25 years of gardening. This Fall I plan to get another and also try some of the other 'fruit punch' series. UPDATED 2023 This is a stand-out 5 star plant EXCEPT please be cautious if you are in an area with wet winters! This is a lovely plant with evergreen foliage in zone 8b (Seattle area). Despite being careful to plant them high and avoiding any mulching within 3"-4" of the edge of the plant they just didn't make it through the wet winters. I ordered 2. They did fine their first winter and expanded well. By the second winter they were the full 10" x 14" with very dense foliage. I think the issue is that the foliage is so dense that it just can't dry out enough to withstand eventual rot. I lost one that second winter and the surviving one needed the dead sections cut out. It looked a little goofy but filled in well by summer. That next winter it rotted as well. So I very highly recommend this plant BUT NOT IF YOUR WINTERS ARE WET. I am very sad because I just loved these.

Just lovely! Bright color that you can't miss from the street. Purchased 5 in 2016 and only 1 didn't come up in 2017. The others are thriving.