The petunia is one of those annual flowers that has risen in popularity and faded into obscurity over and over again. Now, with all the exciting new developments in the world of petunias, they are once more extremely popular n and will undoubtedly stay that way for a long time.

Most gardeners are familiar with the old standard type of petunias–large, deep-throated blooms on loose, rather rangy plants. While they offered the gardener great color, they weren't very pretty. Breeders recognized that the old petunias were the proverbial "diamond in the rough". So they kept the great flowers and the plants' ability to bloom almost non-stop from spring to fall and added a wide range of colors and new flower and plant forms. If you haven't given petunias a try in a while, you may want to give them another look. Since they are easy to grow and prolific bloomers, petunias could be a part of every sunny summer garden.

How to Grow Petunias
The key to success with petunias is sun, lots of it. These sun-loving plants do their best when they get at least 6 hours of direct sun each day. If you are willing to accept fewer flowers and a slightly more open growth habit, petunias will do all right with 4 hours of direct sun. They aren't especially demanding as to soil type or pH, but they do need well-drained soil. Petunias will bloom more reliably if they are kept fertilized. This is especially true for the new aggressive growers such as Waves and Supertunias. Most varieties will be fuller and bloom more if the growing tips are pinched several times early in the season. Even though they recover quickly from pinching, you may want to avoid giving your plant that pinched look by pinching about a third of the branches at a time.
           
If you are growing petunias from seed, start the seeds 10-12 weeks before the average last frost date (around mid-May in the Twin City area). When transplanting petunias, do not plant them any deeper than they were originally growing. Petunias may have problems with aphids or slugs, so be sure to check them often to stay ahead of any problems. During humid weather, blooms may get black mold or show spotting. Just pick off those blooms. As the weather dries, the plants will recover quickly.

Types of Petunias
Standard Petunias: Based on growth habit and flower size, this group can be subdivided into grandiflora and multiflora petunias. Some catalogs and books also have another category of standard petunias called floribunda whose members combine the attributes of grandifloras and multifloras. Standard petunias are all grown from seed.

Grandiflora Varieties: Daddy, Picotee, Ultra, and Cascade
Advantages: Flowers are 3-5 inches across; flower forms can be single or double and some are ruffled; most grandifloras have a mounded habit but a few are trailers.
Disadvantages: The flowers don't hold up in bad weather, the plants have fewer blooms and can be rangy.

Multiflora and Floribunda Varieties: Primetime, Celebrity, Madness, Carpet
Advantages: They bloom prolifically; plants are more weather-resistant than grandifloras; singles, doubles, upright and cascade are available; plants are more compact than grandifloras.
Disadvantage: Depending on variety, blooms are smaller than grandifloras.

Wave Petunias: The Wave series is a fairly recent introduction that is making a huge impact on the world of bedding plants. Waves are actually a floribunda type petunia and are seed grown. The series started with Purple Wave and has gone on from there. All the wave petunias have, to varying degrees, a cascading/prostrate habit. If you're growing them from seed, they need light and warm temperatures to germinate and should be kept evenly moist while young. NOTE: Waves are very heavy feeders and should be fed weekly with a water-soluble fertilizer such as Bachman's Mighty Bloom™ and a slow release fertilizer such as Osmocoteä should be incorporated into the soil at the time of planting.

Purple: Habit is very low-growing and spreading; considered a ground cover petunia; prolific blooms are a magenta purple with a dark eye; flowers just over 2 inches across; plants are 4 to 6 inches tall and up to 3 feet across. Purple Wave earned the prestigious All American Selection Award the same year it was introduced.

Pink: More upright (6-8 inches) but still a spreading, cascading petunia; flowers are bright pink with white-eye and about the same size as those of the Purple Wave.

Rose: Strong rose color flowers with white eyes; habit similar to pink.

Misty Lilac: Flower colors vary with age from lavender to pale pink, almost white; blooms are larger than on Purple Wave; plant habit similar to Pink Wave.

There are new wave series that add even more excitement to the petunia family, look for Easy Wave and Title Wave in a wide range of colors.

Supertunia is a series of vining petunias that can grow more than 3 feet in length even in our short growing season. Like all the petunias that grow so fast, they need to be constantly fertilized and cannot tolerate drying out. They are vegetatively propagated and cannot be started from seeds. There are several varieties of Supertunia offering different color flowers. The flowers are 3-4 inches across. Supertunias have to be grown in containers and window boxes where they will have lots of room to cascade.

Surfina Petunias are the plants you see in Europe cascading from flower boxes. They aren't quite as aggressive as Supertunias, making them more manageable. Many of the Surfina varieties have a distinctive veining pattern in the blooms. Surfina petunias are usually sold with the specialty annuals instead of bedding plants. Good for baskets, tubs and window boxes.

Calibrachoa isn't a true petunia, but looks like one and can be treated as such. Also known as Million Bells, the flowers look like miniature petunia blooms, each less than an inch across. The fast growing plant has a low growing, compact habit and it blooms prolifically all season long. Calibrachoa is vegetatively propagated. The first few years it was on the market the color array was limited to pinks, blue, and white. Watch for the new softer salmon and terra cotta shades that are being developed.

Tiny Tunias are true miniature petunias. The flowers are just over an inch across and the compact plant will grow 6-8 inches tall and wide. A good range of colors is available.

Additional Bachman's Information
Fertilizing Annuals and Perennials
Commonly Used Annuals
Underused Annuals
All About Watering
Watering Tips

Recommended Products
Quality Bachman Grown Plants
Bachman’s Mighty Bloom™ Fertilizers
Seeds and Seed Starting Supplies