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Plant Particulars Zones: 3-9
Height: 6 inches to 2 1/2 ft, depending on cultivar
Spread: to 12 inches
Shape: bushy
Color: shades of white, pink, red, purple, bicolors.
Bloom time: early summer
Light needs: full sun to part shade
Soil: moist, well drained
The 11/2-to-2-foot cottage-garden classic is a far cry from the dwarf varieties you usually find in nurseries. For a truly full and brilliant display of fragrant June flowers that fade just as annuals are reaching their peak, look for seeds of the tall biennial sweet William, available through mail order. Start a seedbed outside in spring or summer and transplant a whole bed of seedlings into the garden late in the summer. After the blooms fade the following July, cut them back. This will often result in the plants reviving and sending up a few more flower stalks. A dahlia tuber or two planted in their midst in spring will hide the fading foliage in the heat of summer. Be sure to scatter some of the dried flowerheads around for insurance—sweet William often returns to bloom a second year, but you can't count on it.
