[Isabel]

A few months ago Aris Zografidis (Bolanthus on the Forum) gave Sparoza a bunch of seeds he had collected traveling in Greece. Most of these were sown direct and lost... The most precious seeds were those of Dianthus diffusus. These I sowed into pots and have come a long way since! I have given two plants away and of the 7 that remain in our custody at the nursery at Sparoza, only one has flowered this season. It is so lovely that I can forgive the rest for waiting until next year!

The leaves have an interesting crimp and curl about them and the long slender flowerstem had 4 flowers. The first (top flower) opened a week ago and has not yet dried up; the other three have opened in succession since. Their petals fold up at night showing the lovely green undersides.

I am so pleased about having grown this rare little beauty, endemic to SC Greece, Evia, the Peloponnese and the Cyclades. If they survive the summer in the nursery I will plant some of them out in potentially favourable spots at Sparoza and hopefully be able to provide the MGS seedbank with seeds of it!

I include here some photographs of the creature. Can anybody verify its identity?

[Alisdair]

How very exciting, Isabel! And congratulations on getting such speedy flowering.
It does look a lovely plant, and really unusual with that different reverse colouring (and the curled leaves that you note, so reminiscent of the carnations that are said to be descended from Dianthus caryophyllus).
I don't know nearly enough about pinks to say whether this is indeed D. diffusus, but it does look reasonably like the original type specimen in the Kew Herbarium, which you can see by clicking here.

[Bolanthus]

Hello Isabel,  this is it! You were probably lucky for having even one of them blooming. This species is considered to be a perennial and probably flower from the second year on. This is also one of my favorite flowers of Mt Hymettus. It is fairly common there -at least in some locations- and the sight can be so lovely!

[Alisdair]

Lovely pictures, Aris; is it scented?

[Bolanthus]

I am not very sure Alisdair, but I think no.