Today’s garden petunia is a hybrid of the original white and magenta-colored species native to South America. From these inconspicuous beginnings, plant breeders have evolved the astonishing number of varieties that are now available.
Petunias are tender, herbaceous perennials that we grow as half-hardy annuals. In habit, they are either bushy or trailing, depending upon the variety.
Their velvety flowers, 1″ to 7″ inches across, vary from the single, star-shaped forms with deep trumpet-like throats to the large, fringed, ruffled, and shaggy double forms.
Available in a wide color range, petunias are perhaps more diverse in this respect than any of our garden flowers. There are infinite red, blue, and violet shadings, as well as delicate tones of lilac, pale yellow, and white.
Petunias in Every Garden
Petunias have assets that are welcome in every garden. Essentially sun lovers, they also perform admirably in light shade.
They bloom constantly throughout the summer, after which they may be cut back and moved indoors, where they will continue to flower.
Their flower production is prodigal and unique, continuing undaunted even in the giant flowering group.
Furthermore, they are easily grown, demanding little care or cultivation, and flourish under adverse soil and climate conditions.
Because petunias succeed in almost all temperate climates, they have an adaptability shared by a few other annuals.
In addition, they are practically immune from pests. They are also hardier than generally supposed, withstanding several degrees of frost.
Many Uses of Petunias
The many use for petunias have made them a garden necessity. The compact, bushy strains are ideal low-border subjects, while the large flowering giants make choice borders for shrub plantings.
All varieties are excellent for ground cover use, as carpet bedding for empty spaces left by bulbs, or, perhaps, as a covering for steep banks.
Balcony petunias are incomparable for window boxes, hanging baskets, tops of walls, banks, and rock gardens.
The dwarf types are also a prime source of color in rock gardens, and they are decorative in beds. Lastly, they provide a bountiful supply of long-lasting cut flowers that will continue to develop indoors.
New Varieties of Petunia
Resourceful and competent hybridizers are placing new varieties on the market every year. By developing such an amazing variety of sizes and shapes, they have fashioned the petunia into one of our most useful flowers.
F1 Hybrid
The newest development is the F1 (first filial generation) hybrid. These are the offspring of selected parents of two different varieties cross-pollinated by hand in the fields to produce each year’s crop.
This process must be repeated each year since the seed of the resultant hybrids cannot be saved because their offspring invariably revert to the parents from which the hybrids were bred.
F1 hybrids have several advantages over the open or self-pollinated petunia varieties. Plants and blooms are uniform in size.
Flowers appear earlier and in greater abundance than do those of other petunias, and there are no off-color flowers or straggly plants.
Furthermore, the seed, seedlings, and plants are sturdier than the parent plants. They are not a distinct group in themselves; rather, they have appeared in several common groups into which Petunias are divided.
Divisions in Petunia Varieties
Contrasting color in the throat of the bloom and ruffled edges add distinction to wide varieties of petunias.
The main divisions in which the petunia varieties are distributed are as follows:
(1) The common tall, single-bedding hybrids, ranging from 18″ to 24″ inches in height, are dome-shaped and remarkably floriferous, reseed freely, and have an extensive color range.
(2) The balcony or pendula type is vigorous, large-flowered single petunias that are trailing in habit.
(3) The dwarf bedding hybrids, or anna compacta’s, have single medium-sized flowers on bushy, compact, erect plants averaging 12″ inches in height.
(4) The grandiflora or giant-flowering, bedding group, which includes the fancy petunia varieties that produce blooms up to 7″ inches across and consist of:
(a) the plain-petaled, large-flowered singles
(b) the ruffled, large-flowered singles
(c) the fringed, or fimbriata, large-flowered singles
(d) the doubles
Some of the outstanding varieties in the tall, single-bedding group are:
- Topaz Rose, a velvety rose with a yellow center
- Hollywood Star with its clean-cut, five-pointed starlike flowers
- Flaming Velvet (All-America Gold Medal winner), a softened, rich, wine-purple
- Igloo, an uncommon, yellow-throated white variety
- Radiance (Silver Medal winner) is a cherry-colored variety with underlying tinges of salmon and a contrasting golden throat.
Pink Sensation (F1 hybrid and Bronze Medal winner), a delicate rosy pink, has been called the most floriferous of annuals.
Silver Medal (F1 hybrid), with flowers that open salmon-pink modulates to a silvery pink. Howard’s Star is vivid crimson with a white-starred throat.
Balcony Varieties
In the balcony group, there are:
- Rose, a torrid rose
- Star of California, white-starred with the blue background
- Netted Blue Gem, a cool, steel-blue
- Black Prince, a black-throated, deep-toned velvety maroon, the darkest red of the balcony Petunias
- White Wonder, a heavily floriferous immaculate white
- Blue Wonder, a limpid, cornflower blue
- Salmon, Salmon with a brown-veined yellow throat
Notable Varieties
Notable varieties in the dwarf bedding group are:
- Cream Star (Silver Medal winner), a mellow creamy white with star-shaped flowers
- Rose of Heaven, a bright, clear pink with a pale pink throat
- Twinkles, a dwarf plant swarming with small, rose-colored blooms, each with a distinct, light-catching white star
- Bright Bytes is a diminutive pale rose, white-eyed variety which, like Twinkles, grows only 8- to 10″ inches tall.
- Rosy Morn, a profuse blooming, soft rose with medium-sized, white-throated flowers, is especially suitable for window boxes.
- Lavender Queen with its large, pale lilac flowers
- Blue Gem, a violet-blue
- Alderman, a rich violet, are notable varieties.
- Martha Washington, a compact, ball-shaped plant, is known for its ruffled, lavender-pink flowers that have large, violet throats, streaked vine-red
- The First Lady (Silver Medal winner) with limpid, pink flowers has a restrained habit of growth.
- Red Satin (F1 hybrid, AAM 1957), a globe-shaped plant sheathed in large, flame-red blooms, resists fading in both sun and heat.
- Paleface (F1 hybrid, AAM Award), a chaste white with a creamy eye, is one of the most vigorous and free flowering of the dwarf petunias.
- Linda (F1 hybrid), repeating the salmon-pink of Silver Medal but more intensely and on smaller, 10-inch plants, spreads lustily to a three-foot width.
- Glitters (F1 hybrid, AAM 1957) is best described as a flashy, crimson-red with white-tipped, starlike edgings.
- Heavenly Blue, a lovely light blue, produces flowers abundantly.
- Fire Chief (Gold Medal), a pure red variety, has an attractive, uniform growth habit.
- Comanche (F1 hybrid), an improved progeny of Fire Chief with incandescent Indian-red flowers, has a hybrid vigor that keeps it sturdily erect in most weather and gives it a robustly spreading habit.
Plain Varieties
Distinguished plain varieties in the Grandiflora or giant bedding group include:
- Elk’s Pride, the darkest and finest royal purple, is a large plant with immense, starlike flowers that has a somewhat trailing habit, suitable for window boxes and beds.
- Pink Glory produces a short plant with large, lustrous pink blooms complemented by a white throat with creamy pencillings.
- White Cloud, a bounteous blooming dwarf plant, covers itself with sheer white flowers, and Snowstorm produces mammoth white blooms throughout the summer.
Ruffled Varieties
Outstanding ruffled varieties in the Grandiflora group are:
- Copper Red, a distinguished dark-throated, copper-colored petunia
- Mauve Queen, with its delicately ruffled lilac blooms and black throat
- Evening Star, a deeply ruffled, pure white with wide-open yellow throat
Fringed Varieties
Some fringed varieties in the Grandiflora group are:
- Theodosia, daintily frilled three-inch blooms of opulent rose with deep, golden throats
- Ballerina (F1 hybrid, AAM Award), a short, free branching and blooming petunia with immense fringed flowers of burnished salmon
- Glamour has giant-sized salmon-rose blooms.
- Fluffy Ruffles is a varied color blend of the finest large, single-fringed petunias borne upon sturdy plants from 12- to 16″ inches in height.
- Moonbeam, a cream yellow with a primrose yellow throat, is unique because the flowers appear in various shades of yellow.
- Fire Dance (F1 hybrid, AAM Award), a dwarf, heavily fringed, indefatigable bloomer with enormous yellow-throated blooms in high-colored scarlet
- Blue Lace, a fringed, star-shaped petunia, the large blue flowers of which are laced in deep violet-blue
- Dwarf Giants in California, the largest varied color blend of mammoth, heavily textured, and fringed flowers with huge, veined throats, borne on compact, 12-inch plants
- Tall Giants of California are identical except for their 18-inch height.
Double Varieties
Lastly, there are the double varieties in the Grandiflora group. Noteworthy varieties are:
- Nocturne, a fringed, full-toned purple, and Sonata, an immense, fresh white with fully fringed margins on medium-dwarf plants
- Rose Marie (AAM Award), characterized by lucid, rose-pink colored flowers borne on 18-inch plants, is useful for cutting and borders.
- An amply fringed, vivid salmon, Allegro has huge flowers which adorn sturdy dwarf plants about a foot tall.
- Colossal Shades of Rose (AAM Award), the largest of the doubles, is noted for tall stalwart plants with a three-foot spread.
- Fringed flowers, 5- to 6″ inches across, come in harmonious shades of rose, ranging from dainty coral to ripe magenta.
- Glorious Mixture is an exceptional strain consisting of both the tall and dwarf types in all colors, from the most immaculate white to the rose shades, the delicate lilacs, the denser purples, and the deep, peony reds.
44659 by Fred A. Cochran