Although originally applied to the species Dianthus caryophyllus, the name Carnation is also often applied to some of the other species of Dianthus, and more particularly to garden hybrids between D. caryophyllus and other species in the genus.

In appearance they made small clumps, throwing out flower shoots on longer stems that should be cut back when the flower heads have faded. Foliage is silver-grey spears with very short leaves. The flower stems carry noticeable 'knuckles'. When cutting Dianthus to put in water, always cut the stem an inch above or below the knuckle, as the nodule itself does not take up water.

The perennial members of the family are usually grown in mixed borders or rock gardens, because they do like a bit of lime. Other things that help produce a bumper crop of flowers are good drainage, a whack of sunlight through the summer months and bonemeal top dressing. As you can guess, things they hate are wet, undrained sites, clay soils and leaf mould. The Dianthus family, by and large, is happy with not too much feeding as long as it gets good sunlight, and overfeeding will produce masses of silvery foliage without many flowers.

Some scholars believe that the name "carnation" comes from "coronation" or "corone" (flower garlands), as it was one of the flowers used in Greek ceremonial crowns. Others think the name stems from the Latin "carnis" (flesh), which refers to the original color of the flower, or incarnacyon (incarnation), which refers to the incarnation of God made flesh.