These are not your grandmother's petunias
Some gardeners turn their noses up at petunias. They dread deadheading sticky, mushy, spent blooms and cutting back plants to keep them looking fresh. These gardeners most likely planted the two oldest types of petunias - grandifloras and multifloras - the types our grandmothers grew.
It's time to try petunias again! Plant breeders have been hard at work on these plants with trumpet-shaped flowers available in a rainbow of colors and a variety of forms - single or double, solid colored, bicolored or veined, and mounding or trailing.
No longer do they have to be deadheaded every day, although a midseason hair cut is still advised.
Petunias are not fussy about soil as long as it is well drained. They thrive in full sun, but will tolerate a bit of shade. To keep petunias flowering at their peak performance, fertilize with a slow release fertilizer when planting or feed regularly with a foliar plant food.
Hummingbirds are attracted to petunias; deer are not. Check out some of these varieties, which you are sure to be attracted to the next time you visit your local garden center.
Wave petunias turned the petunia world on its petals when they were introduced in 1995 and Ball has continued to create new colors and forms. Easy Wave petunias are less trailing than the original Wave series. They boast large, intensely colored flowers on plants that grow 12 inches tall and 30 inches wide.
Easy Wave Neon Rose sports hot rosy pink trumpets and the blooms of Easy Wave Blue are dark violet-blue.
ColorWorks petunias have uniquely patterned petals of brilliant colors. Homare boasts white flowers with large swathes of bright pink with water-colored brush strokes of cherry pink. Violet Star presents violet-red flowers outlined in white. Irregular white stripes on the blooms add more drama to the flowers.
ColorWorks petunias grow 8 to 12 inches tall and 24 inches wide, perfect for hanging baskets, containers and window boxes. They bloom beautifully in the garden, too.
The Surprise series of petunias grow 18 inches tall and wide, creating a large mound of dramatic color. Surprise Blue Vein features lavender flowers with blue-purple veins that lead to deep purple eyes.
Cascadia petunias are trailers with vivid colors and abundant flowering. Many varieties offer unique shading and veining. The blooms of Cascadia Pitaya glow magenta pink edged in chartreuse. Cascadia petunias grow about 14 inches tall and about as wide.
Some petunias are in a class by themselves. Rose Star offers striking rose, pink and white flowers on trailing stems up to 18 inches long. Peppy Purple offers a creamy white flower heavily margined and thinly striped with violet. The bicolored trumpets of Raspberry Blast are electric pink and deep cerise.
It is time to get reintroduced to petunias. They have come a long way, baby.
• Diana Stoll is a horticulturist and the garden center manager at The Planter's Palette, 28W571 Roosevelt Road, Winfield. Call (630) 293-1040, ext. 2, or visit planterspalette.com.