Plant ID please.

Hi all, could anyone help identify this plant please. I've got a few in different colours and had them a few years now. They just keep coming back each year after a good cut back.
Thanks in advance.

Apologies! I have posted this in the wrong section but can't seem to delete it

 

Looks like an alpine pink, dianthus

 

Thank you @CarolineL

 

Hi @Jasmine star ,

It's a Dianthus Chinensis . They're grown from seed and used a lot as bedding plants. You can keep them for about three or four years by cutting them down in early Spring. They're easy to grow from cuttings if you have a colour you particularly like as from seed you never know what colour you're going to get. If you've had them a few years and you like the ones you've got I would take cuttings this year as they might not last much longer.

Don't confuse them with Alpine Pinks ( sorry @CarolineL ) as they are true perennials with greyish blue thin leaves, not green leaves as these have.

 

Hi @KFF
Thank you for replying. Ok this makes sense as each spring when I have cut them back they become a little more woody at the base and also I have them in red and white. They have been little belters for the border and in window boxes.

So taking cuttings would soft stem cuttings work? As there are a few leggy soft stems here and there. I don't fancy my chances with the seeds as the flowers are quite dainty.

 

Yes, @KFF I should have noticed the foliage...

 

Hi Jasmine, yes soft cuttings work well. Just cut a piece below a node and take the lower leaves off ( gently pulling them downwards ).

I usually start mine off in around a months time, then they're ready to be planted out around the end of September. It's also good to pinch the tip out once they've rooted as this will give a more bushy plant.






These are a few of mine, I really like the last one, it's so unusual.

 

@KFF brilliant! Thanks so much
Yours are beautiful. The last photo is a little stunner.
I'll give it a go see how many I can get going. I'd like a few more.

@CarolineL thank you for replying to my post.