Petunias are no longer just great garden fillers. Novelty petunias for containers are stealing the show with their brilliant colour mixes and unusual markings.
Here is a tonic for the blues! Plant up a pot or two or three of petunias and place them where you’ll see them as you dash off to work in the morning, or stagger back in the afternoon, or in your favourite chill out place. They’ll make life feel just a little better and happier!
Lifestyle petunias are flowering powerhouses, perfect for pots and hanging baskets. They fill out quickly but stay neat and flower like champions.
3 things you should know about lifestyle petunias
Feed them often! Pot petunias are hungry plants. That’s because flowering takes up a lot of energy and the plants need nutrition to constantly replenish themselves and keep on flowering. Make a point of feeding them with a liquid fertiliser at least twice a month. You can even do it weekly with a liquid fertiliser diluted at half strength. Keep that up and the flowers will be spectacular.
Water daily on very hot days, reducing as the days get cooler. Garden petunias are drought tolerant but pot grown petunias need consistent watering. They suffer if the soil dries out completely. If a potting soil drains well, daily watering should not result in waterlogged pots.
Don’t overfill a pot. In other words, don’t plant too many plants in one pot. The pots will dry out quicker and need even more feeding. A general rule is three plants in a 30cm diameter pot. Remember, the smaller the pot the quicker it dries out and uses nutrients.
What’s new …Crazytunias
There’s plenty of the Wow factor with Crazytunias. Their vibrant multi-colour blooms feature stars, stripes, and contrasting petal edge. They are fuss free and fast growing, with a neat and tidy growth. They are also heat tolerant, and the flowers drop off cleanly so there is no need to deadhead. Plants in containers like plenty of morning sun with some afternoon shade. Use them to brighten outdoor living areas. Popular types include ‘ Cosmic Violet’ and ‘Cosmic Pink,’ ‘Moonstruck’ and ‘Black and White.’
BeautiCal ‘Rose Star’ is a petunia – calibrachoa cross with large petunia-like two-toned flowers that have the typical vivid colouration of calibrachoa. This robust intergeneric hybrid can handle frost as well as recover fast from wet weather. Plants are mounded and compact, ideal for garden beds, containers and hanging baskets. Plants do best grown in acidic soil in full sun or with partial shade. Fertilise monthly or with a long acting fertiliser when planting.
Amazonas ‘Plum Cockatoo’ is a real attention grabber because of its unusual flowers. Each flower has a deep plum centre that bleeds into the creamy green frilled petals. Its long flowering period is enhanced by the fact that the flowers recover quickly after wind and rain.
Petunia ‘Strawberry Shake’ as well as Blueberry Shake and Raspberry Shake, are compact petunias that are perfect for patio containers or hanging baskets and are just as pretty in the garden. Plants grow 20cm high and wide and stay round and neat. They like plenty of sun and pots that drain well.
Sky Petunias The first of these novelty petunias was introduced in 2016 and they still stand out for their starry, speckled petals in a range of colours. The first was ‘Night Sky’ ‘that was the result of a breeding breakthrough because no other petunia had the starry, speckled pattern on its blooms.
Each bloom is quite different, with its own unique pattern and this pattern can change with the temperature, producing interesting and variable blooms throughout the growing season. Other variations are ‘Cherry Sky’ (red), Baby Doll (pink and white), ‘Circus Sky’ and Petunia Splash Magenta Mambo.
The Sky petunias are strong growing, and some are semi-trailing, like ‘Night Sky’. The flowers are single and tolerate wet weather. Plants can double-up as in indoor flower arrangement for a day or two before being moved onto the patio.
Amore series require a closer look and you will find a heart-shaped pattern on every bloom. ‘Queen of Hearts’ has yellow petals with bright red hearts, while ‘Heart and Soul’ has a maroon heart contrasting with lighter yellow petals. These are high impact petunias for pots or hanging baskets. They have a mounded growth habit.
For more information: www.ballstraathof.co.za
Article and images by Alice Coetzee.
