Petunias are everyone’s favorite -- sometimes

by Helen M. Scott
Wednesday, April 23, 2008 9:44 AM MDT

The petunia is one of those annual flowers that has risen in popularity and faded into obscurity over and over again.

We gardeners are a very fickle lot - first, we can’t get enough of the plant, then we tire of it as we move to something else to plant in our favorite pots out front.

The lowly petunia has been down this road several times in the years since it was brought to our gardens. But I have news: the petunia is not ready to give up! With all the new developments in the world of petunias, they will once more be swinging and swaying on our front porches or in our favorite planters.

All gardeners are familiar with the old standard type of petunias: large, deep-throated blooms on loose, rather leggy plants that needed a lot of deadheading during the season. While they were pretty in color, the plants themselves weren’t that attractive.

The new is that breeders recognized that the old petunia was the proverbial “diamond in the rough.”

According to the experts, the petunia, a relative of tobacco, originated in South America, and takes its name from the aboriginal name for the plant which means something like “a kind of tobacco that does not make a good smoke.”

While Argentina was in Spanish possession, exploration by outsiders was forbidden for almost 300 years in an attempt to preserve the silver and gold resources for Spain. When Spain fell during the Napoleonic Wars, Argentina was able to gain self rule in 1816.

By 1825, the new nation adopted one of the most liberal policies on emigration in the world, to encourage farmers, merchants and trained professionals to come settle the land.

One who answered the call was the head gardener at the botanic garden at Edinburgh, Scotland. During the next 25 years, this Scottish gardener traveled the land and introduced many Argentine plants to Europe including the three species of petunia used to grow the hybrid petunia. They eventually made their way to the U.S.

Today, all petunia seeds that are sold are hybrids that are created by hand crossing two parents, one of which provides vigor and the other, flower color. Because of the hand labor involved, much of the work is done in Central America and India, where labor costs are low.

If the petunias were allowed to reseed, the only parent to survive would be the wild species, because the color parent is such a weak grower it can’t compete in the wild garden.

The new interest in petunias came about because of some vigorous petunias introduced in the early 1990s. The Surfinas were propagated by cuttings, not seeds.

Later, the introduction of the really vigorous seed-grown Wave petunia further built on this method. Purple Wave was the first groundcover petunia on the market, introduced in 1992. Since then, Pink Wave, Rose Wave and Tidal Wave have popped up.

These plants hug the ground, growing only 4-6 inches tall and spreading up to four feet in width. They cover themselves in flowers from spring until frost and are self-cleaning. This means they need no deadheading. Some cultivars may even over-winter or reseed themselves.

Other attractive features include incredible heat and drought tolerance, disease and insect resistant and immunity to rain damage, which is not characteristic of traditional petunias.

Print this story   |   Email this story