Night Sky Petunias require at least six hours of direct sunlight daily for proper growth and flowering. To avoid excessive shade, plant them in a spot with full sun exposure, preferably less than one foot away from a south-facing window. These plants require near-constant blooming, which uses up a lot of energy, so they should be planted in rich, well-drained soil.
The Petunia Pretty Grand™ Midnight is best grown in full sunlight, but it does best in average to evenly moist conditions. It may require supplemental watering during periods of drought or extended heat. The plant is not specific to soil type or pH, but it does best in average to evenly moist conditions.
The Midnight Gold Petunia needs 0.8 cups of water every 9 days when it doesn’t get direct sunlight and is potted in a 5.0″ pot. The Pretty collection needs fewer to no PGRs and is suitable for cold growing.
To maximize flowering, plant Night Sky Petunias in a large container or space plants in a bed or border 12 to 18 inches apart. Ensure the soil is well-draining and protect the plants from standing water.
📹 5 Tips for Better Petunias
Netta’s Nursery, Posen, Michigan www.nettasnursery.com.
How often should I water petunias?
Plant petunias in well-draining beds, avoiding areas where water tends to collect after rain or irrigation. Newly planted petunias need evenly moist soil for the first few weeks after planting, and reduce watering to once every 7-10 days. Containers, such as planters, hanging baskets, and window boxes, dry out faster than garden beds, limiting their roots’ ability to seek hydration. In summer, a container may need watering twice a day. Wave petunias can stand some drying out between waterings, but don’t let the container get so dry that the plants wilt.
Watering should be done according to the general weight of the container, with lighter baskets needing a good soak and heavier ones requiring more watering. Good drainage is essential, as wet or saturated roots can rot and leave plants open to disease.
Do petunias need to be watered every day?
Petunias in pots and containers require more frequent watering than those in gardens. Smaller plants may require weekly irrigation, while established containers may need water every few days. In warmer climates, daily watering may be necessary to prevent sudden wilt. Garden-grown petunias require less frequent irrigation, but the need for supplemental water varies based on weather and soil moisture retention. Weekly soaking is beneficial for petunia plants, provided their beds drain well.
Experienced growers usually water petunias early in the morning or late in the evening to ensure well-hydrated beds and containers. Watering in the evening helps with uptake overnight, but it’s best to allow time for leaves and foliage to dry completely before sundown.
What do overwatered petunias look like?
Overwatering your Petunias can lead to issues such as yellow, swollen leaves, swampy soil, root rot, and a despairing appearance. To rescue overwatered plants, stop watering immediately and let the soil dry out. Consider repotting with fresh, well-draining soil and replacing heavy pots with lighter, breathable ones. Underwatering can also cause issues, with leaves crisper than a fresh salad and soil drier than a stand-up comedian’s wit. New growth turning yellow and wilting is a sign of thirstiness.
What is the best fertilizer for petunias?
It is recommended that petunias be fed Proven Winners Water Soluble Plant Food at each third watering or once weekly, once the plants have become established and initiated growth. It is recommended that Proven Winners Continuous Release Plant Food be incorporated into the soil at the time of planting. To identify Proven Winners products in your vicinity and to devise concept boards for your projects, please refer to the following link.
Do petunias do better in pots or in the ground?
Petunias are versatile plants that thrive in both ground and pots, offering easy care and abundant flowers. They bloom from spring to fall, adding greenery to porches and patios. Some varieties maintain a compact appearance, while trailing types add a burst of color. Growing Petunias in pots is easy, especially with simple care tips. They can be planted throughout the growing season, but are most common in spring.
With proper conditions and care, they can last into fall. However, planted later in the growing season, they may not have established root systems and require more frequent watering to combat warm temperatures.
How do I know if I’m over watering my petunias?
Overwatering flowers can be caused by excessive water, fertilizer, or light. Symptoms include wilting flowers, yellowish leaves, brownish flowers, and dry stems. Overwatering slows plant growth and produces less flowers. Leaves may also appear yellowish, dry, brittle, and dull. If the plant is droopy and dry, water enough to create a damp soil without overly soaking or floating. If these symptoms persist, the plant needs more water and should be gently watered.
If the soil appears dry and crumbly, water the plant again. Most soils contain moisture all day long, but if the soil appears dry, it may be time to add mulch or topsoil. It’s important to monitor the plant’s progress and adjust watering levels accordingly.
Why are my petunias not blooming?
Insufficient sunlight, water, and fertilizer may result in petunia plants ceasing to bloom. To promote the development of new growth, it is recommended that the plants be trimmed and that they be provided with the necessary care. The plants typically bloom from the time of planting until the onset of the first hard frost, with a growing season of approximately 12 weeks in regions with cooler climates and two or three times as long in areas with more favorable temperatures. Appropriate care can prolong the blooming period from the time of planting to the occurrence of the first hard frost.
How do you plant petunia flowers?
Petunias are a type of plant that thrive in full sun and well-draining soil rich in organic matter. To plant them, choose a location with at least 6 hours of direct sunlight per day and good drainage. Prepare the soil by working in compost or using a well-draining potting mix for garden beds. Place the petunia in a hole slightly larger than the plant’s root ball, backfilling with soil and gently pressing down to remove air pockets. Space the plants about 12 inches apart (30 cm) and water thoroughly after planting.
Petunia care involves regular watering, especially during dry spells, and using a balanced fertilizer. Mulching around the base helps retain moisture and keep the soil cool. Deadheading encourages continued blooming by pinching or cutting off spent blooms at the base of the stem. Pruning trims back leggy or overgrown stems to promote bushier growth and more blooming. In colder climates, petunias are often grown as annuals and will not survive the winter. In warmer climates, they can survive the winter and can be pruned back in the fall to encourage new growth in the spring.
How to make petunias more bushy?
In order to maintain the plant’s fullness, it is necessary to remove the flower stalk and spike, and not merely the dead flower. Furthermore, cutting back desired elements is essential for maintaining the plant’s fullness in the center and around.
How to make petunias bloom?
Petunias require at least 6 hours of full sun per day to thrive. To maintain their blooms, ensure they get enough sunlight, keep the soil moist but not soggy, apply a controlled-release fertilizer regularly, and give them a trim. The sun provides energy for the plants to grow and flower, and if they receive less than six hours of light a day, moving them to a sunnier location may encourage more blooms. Proper care and attention to these details will ensure your petunias continue to bloom throughout summer.
What is the best month to plant petunias?
Petunias are a popular plant for their flowers, which can be planted in May/June after frost has passed. To plant, dig a large hole, add organic matter like compost, and place the rootball in the hole. Adjust the planting depth to match the original growth depth, except for hardy fuchsias. Mix more organic matter with excavated soil, fill the hole, apply a general feed, and water well. A 5-7. 5cm (2-3in) deep mulch of well-rotted garden compost helps maintain soil moisture and weeds.
If you have a warm greenhouse, plant containers and baskets in spring and grow on the plants, ready to be placed outside in late May/early June. Petunias can be planted in flower borders, beds, patios, containers, city and courtyard gardens, cottage and informal gardens.
📹 Gardening Tips for Growing Night Sky Petunia Plants for Beginners
Have you ever wondered what the nighttime sky, with all its starry wonder, would look like as a flower? If so, check out the …
Where have you been for my whole petunia loving life?!🤗 I used to grow beautiful petunia hanging baskets. In the last few years though, I’ve had disasters. You renewed my hope for them and have helped me immensely. (The type of petunia was key for me!) I can’t thank you enough. Petunia care has become my therapy and I’m enjoying it again. 🤗
I grew supertunia vista bubble gum last year. One tiny plant in each very big pot. They grew very large and filled the pots. I loved them, didn’t need to deadhead them. I live in brutal dry heat. I had to water them twice a day but I only fertilized them once per week with Proven Winners water soluble fertilizer. They did exceptional. I did also grow seed Petunias in other pots and they didn’t do well at all and stayed tiny. The supertunias were well worth the $9.99 per plant.
Wonderfully informative article..no obnoxious music and to the point. I’m north Texas, and last summer was way too long, with record-breaking heat for weeks on end. I drastically trimmed my potted petunias quite a few times and used a weak solution of fertilizer almost every time I watered. Had to water sometimes twice a day, if the pot felt very light. Thanks for such a pleasant article.
You brought up something very important that’s been my experience more than once. I bought what I thought was one plant and upon up potting or putting in the ground I have several rooted cuttings in the pot. Even with shrubs. I recently bought 3 miniature roses at Walmart and each pot had 4 very well rooted cuttings. So now I have 12 potted mini roses. Same thing with a First Editions 2.5 gallon Crape Myrtle there were 3 and Proven Winners pint Rose of Sharon there were 2 in two pots. As you mentioned here an 8″ pot of Petunias could be harboring a couple extras. Keep an eye out when shopping and when planting, you may find some bonus plants. Thank you for a great informative article!
What a great article on petunias! We’ve had spectacular success with the Supertunia series, especially following a regime as you outlined. Over the past few years I’ve been dabbling in starting petunias from seed and have had the most success with the Wave series. I plant too many to justify buying potted plants. This is the year they will all get drip run to them and after perusal your article, I’m going to add a reminder to my calendar to fertilize weekly and fingers crossed it’ll be the most colorful year yet!
I always grow vistas every year. I fertilized once at planting only and always had beautiful full flowering petunias all summer into fall. Last year I followed your advice bought 3 Supertunias, a liquid fertilizer and watered it with fertilizer everday half the strength each time deadheaded religiously and to my surprise not only did I have the saddest and most sparsely display of blooms but one of my plants just petered out completely mid to late summer.😢. Now I’m going to chop it up to perhaps a sick bunch of supertunias but I was completely bummed because I always loved the hummingbird action and although I had a few stop by I didn’t have the normal massive gathering of hummingbirds. But never fear I’m trying again because I love Petunias. ❤
I ❤️🩷❤️ Supertunias! You almost can’t go wrong with those beauties. This year, I also bought two “regular” pink petunias. They were each in their own hanging basket. I would prune them and water them nearly every day (and fertilize weekly), yet despite my care and attention, they would start fading and didn’t seem happy. So I transplanted them together in a plastic window box I had in my garage. I also took them out of the 6 hour daily sun spot and placed the window box on our patio which faces east and only gets morning sun. They let me know by the very next day how happy they were in their new home and location. 🌸🌸🌸 I often call myself an intuitive gardener. I tend to learn as I go, because oftentimes experience and common sense go a long way in gardening. But I’ve also learned a lot from great websites like yours and others. 😊🙌
Hi Corey! I love your website and learned a lot from perusal you. You kept it simple and detailed instructions of how to take of our flowers. You also keep it real and truthful of how many plants to put in pots. Many times you see these gorgeous floral arrangements in other websites but doesn’t say how many in them…so thank you from a Southern California 10b fan💖💖💖
I grow my petunias from seed. They can take forever to germinate, so I winter sow them to get a jump on the season. There is a wider selection for a lower price when they are grown from seed. One way to keep your petunias producing is to be very proactive about dead-heading. Also, give them a hard pruning mid-season to keep those blooms coming and keep them nice and bushy. I use both a liquid and slow release fertilizer as well.
Corey, thanks for all the great information…..I never had any success with hanging baskets. Now I know why……routine is important and the essentials….water, sun and FERTILIZER…..my plants are beautiful so far and I’m really happy taking care of them! Glad I found you and you great information website. I enjoy your wonderful sense of humour too! Thanks from Toronto, Canada 🇨🇦
Thank you for your informative information very, very helpful.I am plantin Super Tanya vista’s.. This Year and Super tuna.. Also, CALABR ACHoa super bell I have never have planted Those. looking forward to great success. You are wonderful. Have a blessed day. I love to spend my plant money.Wisely you are really helpful.
I just love your articles! Ive learned that Ive been doing everything wrong with my petunias. I watched a few of your articles before buying and planting. I bought supertunias and wave petunias and used 16 inch hanging baskets. I put only TWO plants in each. It looks small now but Im really hoping they grow big and beautiful. Planning on fertilizing once a week and hopefully can keep those nasty ear wigs out this year. Thank you so much!!!!
Very informative! I’ve had tremendous success with my purple wave petunias! I’m extremely diligent when it comes to removing the blooms when they’re spent, so I think that helps. I have yet to grow one of those massive baskets, but I’ll keep on trying. I collect the seeds and grow them again each year without having to shell out all that cash at the box stores😊. Now my cup runneth over with them so I pass them on to friends and neighbors alike. Here in Maryland, the Summer heat and humidity gets unbearable. But these Wave Petunias thrive as long as I keep them well watered. They’ve also been surprisingly tolerant of the temperature drops in the fall and continuously bloom til I pull them up at the end of October. I’m gonna subscribe in hopes that you can help me achieve the stunning trailing variety hanging basket of my dreams.
Thank you! I really appreciate your article. Subscribed. I had no idea that there are now 100s of varieties of Petunias! I guess I need to repot mine already from your information. I have a seed variety that I really love the colour of. Unfortunately, it already has tons of seed pods in the center of the plant. I tried pruning 25% last year to increase vigor and that just finished the plant off. 😢
Thank you so much for the great article! I bought two petunia wave baskets 4 weeks ago, and I have watched all your petunia articles. I have done everything including sunlight for more than 6 hours. I water every other day and fertilize weekly and cut off 20% but they don’t look lush and full 😢 nothing like the ones you show in this article Infact one has developed a big empty space in the middle. I live in Northeast Ohio. I have spent hours taking care of these plants but it is just not working😩 I’d really appreciate it if you could please help me. I wish I could share pictures of them.
There isn’t a thing in this viedo I don’t disagree with I luv Suppertunia vista petunias the best I traded all my baskets in my backyard to 14 inch basket planted the jazz berry for the first time I only put two plants and some creeping Jenny and they have almost filled out the basket thanks for breaking down the different varieties 🌸
My petunias were beautiful! A beautiful deep purple! Clean green leaves then a week later, they began to get that sticky stuff on the leaves (shiny), alotta gunk too. So i sprayed all the green and soil with neem oil, THEN they began to grow with white streaks all over the purple petals! I feel the neem oil made the bug problem worse. Why did that happen?
This was a wonderful segment. Thank you. I learned some new info. More than 20 years ago, I bought some beautiful petunias at Skye Nursery in Seattle. They were called Azure Skyes and Azure Sails. I mixed them with a pale pink petunias in my traffic circle. They were so prolific and beautiful. The results were unbelievable. They sure loved that sun! I actually had to use a hedge clipper to dead head them, and they loved it. I have been unable to find the Asure Skyes or Azure Sails at local nurseries anywhere. Any thoughts on where to located them, please? When I try to google, the only types are brought up are a darker blue. What I want is pastel blue to go with pastel pink. To anyone – petunias are an easy and impressive flower for those of us with a brown thumb. They love sun and deadheading. Seriously, the hedge trimmer really did work! Again, this was a great segment! 🌸
I’m in the UK and have my petunias in the flower bed rather than containers, and it rains fairly often. If it doesn’t rain obviously I water them daily. Do I still need to fertilise them often? At the moment they just have the slow release Miracle Gro pellets and I was planning on repeating that every 6 months as per the pack instructions.
Hello! My first time trying petunias on my east-facing patio here in Tucson (9a-9b?). From this article I gather I should keep them more on the north side of the patio so they don’t get full sun all day. My question is, the pot I got are the large pots of supertunia varieties from a big box store – they’re labeled as “drop in a pot” as-is but they’re very full. I’m wondering if I should try separating them to give them some room to breathe and fill in even larger pots?
Hi, is it normal to have a petunia plant with 2 different color blooms? I purchased a basket with some dark purple ruffle blooms outlined in yellow and some solid yellow blooms. My plan was to take out the plants, divide them and make other baskets. But to my surprise they were both on the same plant! Now I’m curious how I can propagate it snd which color bloom will I get.
Just recently discovered your website and I’m loving it!! I’m in MN so I always like perusal/listening to other northern gardeners for advice/information. I did not know that there was so much to learn about petunias 😳😅. I work at a local garden center and learning all this will help me with customers.
I got a new box of miracle grow and some of the instructions were faded out.. I accidentally doubled the fertilizer and my petunias and burnt right where It went over it😭😭 they are in the ground. They’ve been so beautiful I am so devastated 😭 does anybody think they are going to survive okay?! They are my babies!!! (Besides my kids ha😅)
While petunias are beautiful they are HIGH MAINTENANCE – I had to deadhead every day and trim them back every week to keep the blooms coming on. I’d MUCH rather have nasturtiums – NO deadheading. they completely fill and overflow their pot, they bloom until the first frost, and each bloom produces a seed (that looks like wrinkled garbanzo bean) that you can easily gather after the plant dries out and plant for the next year. The only thing they need is daily watering and slug killer pellets and Miracle-Gro feeding once a month. We have two huge pots and a half-barrel filled with them and they are just spectacular AND the blooms are edible!