Great Pic Tiff. I agree that Sweet Williams and Dianthus' should be in gardens that want to attract a wide range of butterflies etc. I have lots of varities of Sweet Wiliams and Dianthus' dotting the paths and garden edges and we seeing lots of butterflies and such.

Sandy

Wow, gorgeous butterfly!

And the other good thing about Sweet Williams is that groundhogs don't eat them!!!

Nice picture. I don't know much about butterflies, but there was one hanging on my grill (which is right next to the garden with dianthus blooming and monarda, which it ignored so go figure :) It was black with blue edging its wings. Very pretty. Anyone know what it was?

Caryl

Is Sweet Williams and Dianthus different? From what I know, dianthus is the type of the plant while Sweet Williams, Firewitch are the cultivars of dianthus. Please correct me if I am wrong.

Nice picture Nicole. So this Sweet Williams, do they flower later as compared to Firewitch? My firewitch is done blooming for almost 3 weeks now. I forgot to deadhead. I am not sure if I deadhead it, it will still bloom.

And also, does Sweet Williams flower every year?

Sweet Williams is known as Dianthus Barbatus Neil. It is usually a biennial, but if you deadhead before they spend energy to create seed, they should return, and after that will do so from year to year.

I also have some Firewitch and mine only blooms the once. I would say that the Sweet Williams generally bloom at the same time - at least here they do.

Caryl, There's a possibility that what you saw was another Swallowtail. I know that in some areas of the USA you folks get a beautiful one such as what you describe. :O)

Tiffy, it might have been. It was similar in size and shape to yours, but more solidly black. The blue looked like the blue on yours, too, only the dots were all along the edges of the wing. It was unusual enough that I noticed it, when usually I just kind of take them for granted.

And my sweet william hasn't bloomed yet. It was ws this year, so maybe it won't until next year? The dianthus has been in bloom for a few weeks.

Gorgeous shot! The colors are so vibrant. I had a pretty ruby colored sweet william bloom this year, and a couple of lavender colored dianthus blooming right now.
Tammy

Caryl,
Could it be the one in the link below? They are wonderful! We don't get them here...
Your SW will bloom next year no doubt. :O)

Thanks Tammy!

Here is a link that might be useful: {{gwi:411871}}

That's so pretty! Can I plant some now and have them bloom next year?

Leisa

Tammy, yes, that's it. So now I know it's a swallowtail. I'll have to be on the lookout for them now. Thanks.

Caryl

Leisa,

I would think so. :O)