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Playful petunias

Many different varieties can fill any garden spot

Petunias are one of the most versatile annuals to use in the landscape.

Use them to edge a perennial border, conceal the yellow dying foliage of bulbs, or to dress up the edges of a vegetable garden.

The frilly, fancy flowers of petunias also look good in container bouquets, spilling out over the edges along with ivy set among asparagus fern and tall spiky dracaena.

Put petunias in mixed plantings in window boxes. The cascading or spreading types combine well with salvias and geraniums; the grandifloras mix well with sweet alyssum, ivy-leaved geranium and portulaca.

Petunias make excellent cut flowers. Like pansies and zinnias, the more you cut them, the more blooms they produce. Because their stems are lax and their leaves are sticky, they are best cut with short stems. Place them in flower rings where they will last for five to six days. They also may add fragrance to a room. The flowers can be pressed whole or with petals taken apart. Don't use the blooms as an edible decoration because the plants are toxic.

Petunias may look ``down in the dumps'' after a hard rain but, take heart, they perk up within hours.

CATCH THE WAVE

Want a fast-growing, fast-spreading petunia? Catch petunias in the Purple Wave and Pink Wave varieties. Their trailing habit is great for hanging baskets, window boxes or deck planters. They can even climb a small trellis. Both have been past All-America Selections. They need sun and regular feedings. If their leaves turn yellow, give them liquid iron.

PETUNIA AT A GLANCE

COMMON NAME: Petunia (pe-too'ni-a)

SPECIES: Petunia spp; member of Solanaceae genus, which includes 2,000 species of flowering plants, vines, shrubs and trees. Name comes from the word petun, or tobacco of the Tupi Indians of Brazil.

FORM: Mounding or sprawling.

SIZE: height 6-12 inches, spread 8-12 inches

EXPOSURE: Sun

LEAVES: Dull green, oblong, fuzzy and sticky.

VARIETIES: Lots of varieties in many colors. Many fragrant, especially during evening; smell for perfume in white, blue and mauve shades. Prism Sunshine, '98 All-America, pure yellow grandiflora petunia tolerates heat and drought; 3- to 3 1/2-inch-wide flowers do not fade in full sun or turn pink under stress. Plant grows 12 to 14 inches high; good container plant.

Grandiflora types have large, fancy flowers; multiflora have smaller, simpler leaves, are bushier, more disease resistant and recover better after rain. Single and double selections among both types; Petals may be frilled or fringed. Cascading varieties good for hanging baskets, window boxes or tiered planters.

FLOWERING TIME: Late spring to first frost.

CULTURE: Not particular about soil but does best in organic-rich soil and lots of water during summer.

Annuals should be fed often during summer. For convenience, use time-release fertilizer pellets, such as Osmocote or Sta-Green. Many new potting soils include time-release fertilizers in the mixes (check labels).

USES: Containers, window boxes, masses, borders. Also makes good flowering house plant during winter; pot up before first fall frost, enjoy over winter, start new cuttings indoors and transplant outdoors when weather warms.

PINCHING: May become leggy in hot weather or spotty after hard rains. To rejuvenate, prune lightly and feed. Some new varieties need little, if any, pinching to keep blooming.

WINTER PROTECTION: Not hardy outdoors past heavy fall frost.

PROBLEMS: Aphids, slugs, fungus, smog.

PROPAGATION: Start seeds indoors in containers of good potting soil covered with moist sphagnum moss 8-10 weeks before last frost in spring. Do not cover; when seedlings grow 3-4 leaves, transplant to individual 2-3-inch pots and plant outdoors when frost danger past.

Sources: Virginia Cooperative Extension, Taylor's Guide to Annuals, The Annual Garden by Firefly Publications

April 1998

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