Every year, I head to the nursery and get sucked into buying petunias, especially those hanging baskets that look like a cornucopia of magnificent blooms. Three to six weeks later, my petunias look about as scraggly as Gollum from The Hobbit.

Yeah, I dead-head my petunias. I’ve tried keeping the soil moist. I’ve tried letting the soil dry out before watering them. I tried sun, partial sun, partial shade, full shade, and artificial lights. I tried fertilizing and not fertilizing. No matter what I do, within 3-6 weeks, my petunias have gone to pot.

Next spring, I am banning petunias from my garden. I’m going all impatiens – the regular variety, double impatiens for hanging pots, and my all time favorite New Guinea Impatiens for some extra pizzazz. All I do is water these guys, and they flower all summer long – none of that dead-heading nonsense.