I believe it is a biennial. At least for me.

Yes, Sweet William. Biennial or short lived perennial, not at all like the low growing, cushion forming Dianthus. One won’t make much impact. About a foot tall and less across.

That's what I thought,had a couple when I first started a garden years ago. I pulled them up because they just looked ratty most of the time. Hope you have better luck.

I like Sweet William. Easy/carefree, nice scent, and good cut flower. Just pick a spot and let them self-sow. :)

Oh dear. Ratty is not good. That is what I get for impulse buying. Well, I only paid $2-something, they were on sale and I had some bonus bucks -- that's cheaper than an annual, so I'll just enjoy the flowers and see what happens.

So many types exist that without doubt you'd find favorites among them! Seed grown 'Dynasty' mixture are short lived perennials with glorious double blooms in clusters upon long stems. Rich clove scented 'Sweetness' gently seeds itself around and gives two bloom cycles if sheared after first flowering, both the above are first year flowering. 'Amazon' and similar hybrids have performed as annuals for me and produce heads of remarkable size that continue to flower and remain tidy for months on end! There's a myriad of true perennial types in a broad range of clumping and matt forming types and all pretty much prefer well drained average garden soils and plenty of sun.

Dianthus 'Amazon'

Froze, your pics are beautiful!

Floral_UK, seems these 'Amazon' hybrids and such also then lend themselves to being quite sterile, I've observed few seedlings along their likes.

Thanks Tiffany, the delphinium 'Cheer Blue' is equally impressive and long flowering due to being of low seed set, though producing sufficient enough to carry itself on, second year plants have very good vigor!

FrozeBudd: What a flower display - gorgeous!

I'll have to pull out my perennial books and learn more about diantus. I always am tempted when I see them on the bench but they don't make it home with me. I especially like the ones with the gray-ish grassy foliage.

Eh, like I said, for less than $3 no big deal if the Rockin' Red doesn't work out.

There are various kinds of Dianthus. I'm not sure it's possible to generalize much. My fav. one is D. gratianopolitanus ("cheddar pinks") because the flowers smell so good.

Mxk3, thanks it's always fun filling the beds with color!

Another unique dianthus is Siberian Blues' with its mauvey blue flowers. The 'Ideal' series makes a very nice bedding type or to tuck here and there. As Tiffany mentioned, you might want to follow your nose as to find some your favorites!

Well, I have to say I very much enjoyed the Rockin' Red dianthus. It bloomed its fool head off, and the vibrancy of the red really stood out. Foliage stayed pretty nice-looking, not ratty at all. It was well forth the $2-something price of admission, even if it ends up croaking. DH commented on it, too -- and he rarely comments on my plants.

Look out for seedlings, mxk.. Sweet Williams are the type of plants which, once you have them, you will have a presence in your garden forever (unless you are on soaking wet clay). A stand of sweet Williams looks really well with late tulips and wall flowers and fills that gap between spring bulbs and ephemerals and early summer perennials. There are numerous varieties and all are great for picking too (lasting well in a vase). Always have a few on the allotment. Glad you enjoyed Rocking Red.

Many years ago we had "Heart Attack" dianthus. The flowers were gorgeous. I had chose this variety as the developer claimed that it was much more perennial like than other biennial dianthus but that wasn't our experience with it :(