BVC - King's College...

[Chuck Graves]

>Not that you're wrong.... Only because when I thought of that I 
>immediately thought of the pink carnations you get in the florists.  

     So did I.
     
     History: 
     I asked my knight (brewer, cook, and all-around scholar) what clove 
     gillyflowers were. He pulled out the Oxford English Dictionary which 
     gave a 16th-century (I think) citation, and gave the Latin botanical 
     name for carnations.
     
     I think Clare and I ended up at the same place.  It's not the big 
     fluffy florist's carnations.  They are smallish, "pepto bismal pink" 
     things. I think they are referred to as "doubles", though.  It's not 
     a single, five-petal flower like the "pinks"; they are slightly more 
     complex (but only slightly), and about the size of a half-dollar.

>If badgered because I have to dig through piles, I can find the catalog 
>that sells period gilliflowers and pinks here in the US.. They actually 
>have several varieties that are traceable back the the 16th and 17th 
>century. 

     Badger, badger, badger, badger, badger, badger, badger, badger, 
     badger, badger, badger, badger, badger, badger, badger, badger, 
     badger, badger, badger...8^)

>they have a heavy clove scent.  I know, having seen them, that Howard's 
>Nursery in Bryn Gwlad sells clove gilliflowers from time to time.

     Don't they, though--absolutely glorious.  And quite a bit of trouble 
     tracking down even ONE nursery that carried them (at least, in 
     Oklahoma).  But they did winter very well...and they are spreading.  
     I'm looking forward to a lot of experimental brewing this spring and 
     summer.
     
     Clare, do the ones you've seen have rather dark, almost blue leaves?

     Regards,
     Tadhg

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