NEW PETUNIAS FOR 2017

Years ago petunias were offered only in solid colors -  typically red, pink, white and purple. Now they come in yellow and even black. There are loads of new petunias being offered for the 2017 growing season and here are a few of them.

The big "break through" in 2016 for new petunias  was "Blue Skies" produced by Selecta, a company that serves the North American market with vegetative propagated bedding plants and poinsettias.

"Blue Skies"

It looks like a purple/blue flower that has been splattered with white and every bloom is different.   It was an instant success and "flew off the shelves."  This year that plant has a big sister, "Pink Sky."  I've only seen photos of this plant, but I am definitely going to grow it.

"Pink Skies"

Another trend that is being tried in many color combinations is to have the eye of the petunia be one color and have the rest of the pedals blend out  to another color.

Potunia Purple Halo

 Sweetunia Johnnie

"Crazytunia Moonstruck"

There are oodles of new patterns turning up on petunias blooms as well.  One that I will definitely try this summer is "Amore Queen of Hearts."

"Amore Queen of Hearts."

It will be interesting to see if the heart pattern is prominent in "real life."

Years ago all petunias were started as seeds.  Petunias that you purchase in six-packs are still started from seed, but now most of the petunias you see in hanging baskets and sold individually in pots are grown from cuttings.  They are more vigorous growers and generally benefit from more fertilizer.    Because they don't put their energy into producing seeds they produce more blooms.  Most of these petunias from cuttings don't need dead heading.

The downside is that they are more expensive.  The greenhouse owner not only pays quite a bit for each cutting, they pay royalties and a propagation fee.  The only way to grow more of the same plant is to take cuttings, which is legally prohibited.  The plants are registered and trademarked.  There are actually plant police who come around to large greenhouse operations to make sure their copyrighted plant is not being used for making more cuttings.

Petunias will remain one of gardeners favorite flowers and they just get easier to grow and of course the choice is now huge.

New and Unusual Annual Flowers for 2016

When it comes time to order new plants for the next growing season, I am the proverbial kid in the candy store.  I want to try out everything that's new.  Unfortunately most of the recently developed cultivars are grown from cuttings and they are sold in flats of at least 50 starts.  So I am forced to experiment with a large number of plants.  I always hope my customers share my curiosity.                                           

NIGHT SKY PETUNIAPhoto Courtesy Selecta

Night Sky Petunia is one of the more unusual new plants I have to offer this year.  I’m not crazy     about this speckled look, but I don’t care for black petunias either and customers seem to love them. 

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XANTHOS COSMOS

Photo Courtesy Fleuroselect

Xanthos means yellow in Greek and that’s what this new cosmos bipinnatus is all about. Xanthos Cosmos is dwarf, early flowering and uniform.    The soft yellow should be great for bouquets. Cosmos really need deadheading to keep the new flowers coming.

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BIDENS BEE DANCE RED STRIPE

Bidens is kind of a sprawly plant which is ideal for mixed containers, but not so great as a stand-alone plant.  Until recently Bidens has been limited to solid yellow.  Bidens beedance red stripe is a new take on this cultivar.  Its star-shaped orange/red blossoms with yellow centers will spill down the edges of window boxes, large pots, and planters.  Bidens is long blooming and drought resistant,

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VERBENA ESTRELLA VOO DOO STAR

photo courtesy Westhoff

The Estrella series of Verbena come from Germany.  The blooms are close to foliage unlike many other verbenas that tend to be leggy.   Estrella Voo Doo Star is good for baskets and is drought resistant.

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CRAZYTUNIA STARLIGHT BLUE
Photo courtesy Westhoff

Crazytunia Cheesecake with it's red and white star appearance did well in my greenhouse last year, so I will give this Starlight Blue a try this season.  I will soon share MORE "new" annuals to be offered at Amanda's Greenhouse.

NEW PLANTS for 2015 - Crazy Petunias

Here we go again.  There may be four feet of snow on some of the barn roof, but the seeds and rooted cuttings are ordered.  (Yet ...  it's not too late to make requests.)

I will start this year's blog with pictures of some unusual vegetatively grown petunias now offered. The advantage of root-grown petunias over petunias grown from seeds generally is that they are more vigorous and they never need dead heading.  Some of the new seed varieties, like the 'Tidal Wave' series, or the 'Opera' series, are challenging the rooted cuttings.

                                   

                                                                    Crazytunia Pulse


The disadvantage is that these rooted cuttings are patented and we growers pay a lot for not just the cuttings, but the royalties and the tags we are required to buy to go with the plants.  Of course this is seen in the eventual cost for customers.

In recent years a company in Germany, Westhoff, started pushing the possibilities of vegetatively grown petunias with their "Crazytunia" series.  I will be growing the four new varieties shown in this posting.

Crazytunia Red Blue

Crazytunia  Star Jubilee

Crazytunia Mandeville