Spring flowers in Japan: cherry blossom dianthus

There are a wide range of Dianthus flowers grown in japan. In this post: 'cherry blossom' dianthus. In Japanese they are called sakura nadeshiko 桜ナデシコ. The 桜 (sakura) is sometimes written in katakana rather than kanji: サクラ。 Sakura means cherry blossom and nadeshiko means dianthus.

Sakura Dianthus or cherry blossom dianthus looks very like creeping phlox. In fact, I often see people posting sakura dianthus on social media as creeping phlox! However, you can see up close that the sakura dianthus are raised off the flower bed, whereas with creeping phlox it is very low and creates a carpet effect. In fairness, sakura dianthus can also look like a carpet of flowers from a distance too. The only way I can tell them apart is to get up close and you can see the stems of the dianthus.

However, up close dianthus also look like a variety of primroses (and they aren't even in the same family), but you can tell them apart because of the way they grow. Unlike some of the other dianthus, Sakura dianthus grow in large bunches, whereas primroses don't. Also, primrose flowers sit on the leaves whereas sakura dianthus have more stem between the leaves and the flower.

Dianthus has more than 300 species and of them, sakura dianthus is quite different to the other dianthus I have seen. Several of the other dianthus species are blooming right now, but the sakura dianthus typically blooms late April to early May and I think they are probably finished in most places now.

Have you seen any 'cherry blossom dianthus' this year? Any other tips you would suggest for telling sakura dianthus and creeping phlox apart?