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.
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I’m with you! I bought a beautiful basket of purple double petunias two weeks ago. They are so scraggly and ugly now. But planted some in a pot around my day Lillys and they are georgous. I can’t figure out what happens to the baskets!
Hi, Cheryl
Thanks for sharing your observations. I’m going to try a couple in pots and see whether that makes a difference. My daughter is trying to convince me to give petunias a second chance in pot arrangements. I may still be a bit too lazy to dead-head, though.