Petunia Fast Facts

Overview

With their delicate petals and vibrant, bold hues, petunias add a splash of color to any garden. Plant them in a bed, along walkways or in containers and marvel at their unique, trumpet-like silhouettes.

Varieties

There are four varieties of petunias. The first, grandflora petunias, produce large flowers that make them best suited for hanging pots or window containers. Multiflora petunias are smaller, but offer an abundance of blossoms. Miniflora petunias present petite flowers that are best suited for mixing with other annuals in one container. Groundcover petunias are the perfect addition for spreading down a hillside garden or sprucing up a retaining wall.

Planting

When planting your petunias, sprinkle a timed-release fertilizer into the soil and space the plants 12 inches apart. Plant in full sun or an area where they will receive at least six hours of sun a day.

Watering

Petunias are fairly tolerant of heat, and watering once a week should be sufficient. Drench the soil about 6 inches down. Plants in pots and groundcover petunias require more frequent watering, every two or three days.

Blooming and Pruning

Petunias will repeat bloom throughout the summer. Frequent deadheading--pinching off fading blooms--and pruning back leggy stems are essential to resetting flower buds.

Problems

Petunias generally have few problems. Some things to look out for: gray mold and soft rot in rainy areas; aphids, which can be hosed off with a blast of water, and caterpillars, which will leave small holes in the leaves and petals.

Photo by: Muffet, Flickr, Creative Commons, Noel Zia Lee, Flickr, Creative Commons, Robert S. Donovan, Flickr, Creative Commons