Carnations is a herbaceous perennial plant growing to 80 cm tall. The leaves are-glaucous greyish green to blue-green, slender, up to 15 cm long. The flowers are produced singly or up to five together in a chyme they are 3–5 cm diameter, and sweetly scented; the original natural flower colour is bright pinkish-purple, but cultivars of other colours, including red, white, yellow and green, have been developed.
Carnations require well-drained, neutral to slightly alkaline soil, and full sun. Numerous cultivar have been selected for garden planting. Typical examples include 'Gina Porto', 'Helen', 'Laced Romeo', 'Red Rocket'. Colombia is the largest carnation producer in the world.
Carnations do not naturally produce the pigment thus a blue carnation cannot occur by natural selection or be created by traditional plant breeding. It shares this characteristic with other widely sold flowers like roses, lilies chrysanthemums and gerberas.
