One of the more popular flowering annuals, petunias are always in style. It seems that every gardener has at least one type of petunia in their landscape. They can be grown in the flowerbed or they make beautiful container plants.

 

Over the past few years there has been a huge influx of new varieties. Variety types such as the many colours and types of ‘Wave’, ‘Supertunia’ and ‘Surfinia’, have made a large impact on the petunia market. Native to Argentina petunias can be found blooming throughout the world in window boxes, patio pots, hanging baskets, and used in flowerbeds as borders, mixed with other flowers or in a mass planting.

 

Petunias can be started by seed but this does take some time and some knowledge. The seeds are very small (unless they have been pelleted) and it takes 10-12 weeks from seed till the plant is ready to bloom. This is why many gardeners prefer to just buy the young transplants in the spring, but if you are up for the challenge it can be worth it as you can choose different varieties, save money, and have the pride in knowing you grew your own petunias from seed.

 

 Seeds should be started indoors now. Fill seed trays with moistened starter mix. Sprinkle the petunia seeds on top of the starter mix and gently press them in. Don’t cover the seed as they need light to germinate. Cover the seed tray with a plastic dome and place in a warm (23-30 Celsius) location. A heating pad specially made for this would be ideal.

 

After 7-10 days when the seeds germinate the plastic dome is removed from the tray and the tray can be placed in a cooler location (12-18 Celsius). It is very important to give the young seedlings lots of light. A fluorescent light on an adjustable light stand works well as you can raise the light as the plants grow.

 

When the young seedlings have 3-4 leaves they can be transplanted into their own containers. To create bushy plants pinch the tips out as the plants become larger. Around the beginning of May the young plants can be hardened off to get them ready to go outside. Place them outdoors during the day and bring them in at night. Plants are ready to be planted outdoors after all risk of frost has passed.

 

Petunias are easy to grow and when cared for properly they will bloom all summer. They can grow in many soil types, providing that it is well drained. Choose a sunny/partial shade location. Water the plants as they require it. Do not keep the plants too wet or too dry. When they are in bloom fertilize the plants with a flowering plant fertilizer 12-36-12. The older varieties of petunias should be deadheaded to keep them blooming. Pinching out the finished flowers by the stem will prevent the finished flower from forming seed which will give more energy to creating new flowers. The newer variety types are self cleaning which means that they do not need to be deadheaded, and this can save a lot of time! If you find that the plants become leggy they can easily be trimmed back as this will make them fuller.

 

There are hundreds of different varieties with different types of flowers to different growth habits. Flowers come in a wide rainbow of colours and can be small, large, single, double, ruffled, smooth, veined, striped, solid, two toned and scented. Some plants cascade, others grow up, some are wide spreading and others are compact.

 

With so many varieties to choose from you will certainly find one for every corner of your yard.