Container Gardening: Petunias

Take Another Look at Petunias!

I know that as flowers go, petunias don’t seem as exciting as say ornamental grasses or some of the other specialty plants that are popular right now. Petunias are a constant, everybody’s had them and they are everywhere. We’ve been there, done that! And yes, I’d say that’s all true but it’s true for very good reasons. Petunias, despite their ubiquity, are a showy plant. They bloom, they bloom and they bloom some more. And they smell good, too. Petunias come in a wide variety of colors and sizes and I would say for those reasons alone, these flowers are exciting. Every year, nurseries come up with new varieties of petunias. To try to name all the permutations of petunias available would be impossible which is a testament to just how exciting these flowers still are. I think rather than dismiss petunias as common, the idea is to think about using petunias in a different way.

One of my favorites is the Wave Series. There are now 5 different Wave series, the Wave, Tidal Wave, Shock Wave, Double Wave and Easy Wave. The three I am most familiar with are the Wave, Tidal Wave and Easy Wave. The difference in these three is in the height. The Wave is low growing (4-6”) while the Tidal Wave is a more upright variety (16-22”). The Easy Wave falls in the middle (6-10”). They all have a spreading habit which makes all of them ideal for containers. In the It’s a Grand Old Flag design, I have one of each which adds to the interest of the grouping.

Waves also make excellent groundcover. If you have a large area to cover Waves are the way to go. A few plants will cover a large area. After the first time planting Waves in a flower bed, I had to scale back plantings because the plants did so well. I had problems with them taking over. One of my favorite things to do with Waves is to plant upright plants of a contrasting color that poke through the spreading Waves. The effect is spectacular. I have used medium height snapdragons or upright petunias in conjunction with Waves with great success.

As for the hundreds of other petunia varieties which fall into categories based on flower-size, they also make excellent choices for container gardening. For myself I have noticed a shift away from making the petunia the center attraction in a container and giving it a supporting role. I have been very pleased with the results. One of my favorites is the milliflora varieties which are the smallest flowers. I like to plant it with other mounding type plants like this:

Petunias are also good as filler plants in more complex container designs and when using specialty foliage plants. Because of the variety of colors, sizes and heights, I can almost always find a petunia variety to complement my design.

In the coming weeks, I’ll be showing more designs that use petunias. They really are a beautiful and versatile annual. When you head out to the nurseries and garden centers this spring, give petunias another look. Think of how they can complement plants rather than taking front and center as they have in years gone by. I think you’ll be pleasantly surprised to find that petunias really are new and exciting!

Growing Art: Container Garden Design of the Week

It’s a Grand Old Flag!

This is a really simple basic design. So simple in fact, it really shouldn’t be called a design. However, this is a good example of how grouping pots together creates a big impact.

I used three colors of wave petunias: red, blue and silver. The silver is a white flower with purple veins although the flowers sometimes will be lavender instead of white. I chose the silver instead of white because it gave the same effect as pure white without the harshness. Pure white flowers definitely have their place in the garden but just not with bright colors like red and purple, in my opinion.

In my earlier gardening days I would have put one of each color in each pot thinking that would yield the effect of the flag. In doing that, however, each color is actually diminished and mostly it just looks a mess. Putting all one color in a pot allows each color to shine on its own as well as collectively creating a patriotic impact. In general, single plants have less impact except in the instance of accent plants. Here, 3 to 4 petunias per pot provide a big wow factor. If you pinch the plants back within the first month, you will have really full beautiful flowering plants. I know it’s hard to pinch them back when they are just starting to take off, but try it. I promise you won’t be disappointed.

The stand I used here is one I picked up at the street fair some years ago. I love it. However, the same effect could be achieved by using pots of different sizes or by raising up pots with pavers or bricks. This is also an excellent grouping to use on steps.

Real Gardeners Don’t Plant in Pots...Do They?

When I first started gardening I considered pots to be the domain of the non-gardener. What came to mind were lone pots of geraniums placed on steps outside of otherwise barren landscapes. It was the least amount of effort and a small attempt to brighten up the summer that generally failed miserably. Real gardeners didn’t bother with pots I thought. They planted things in the ground and worked their magic to make them grow. That was the true mark of a “real” gardener. I now know that real gardeners are smart and plant in pots, too.

I spent years planting annuals in the heavy clay soil that is typical of my region. I would till peat into the soil, add slow release fertilizer, mulch and water, water, water. Sometimes I would get great results but more often than not, I was disappointed. My plants didn’t get big enough, they didn’t bloom enough, or quite simply, they died.

My first foray into container gardening was an unusual one. I had a bed on the north side of the house that was almost complete shade and tended toward the damp side. I planted it with impatiens, pansies and tuberous begonias. The impatiens and the pansies did great. The begonias, not so much. The soggy conditions the impatiens and pansies thrived in gave my begonias stem rot. The plants never flourished and consequently were overpowered by the very happy impatiens. I liked the way the design looked when the plants actually grew right so the next year, determined to get those begonias to grow, I bought two big plastic pots. I thought if the ground was too wet then I had to give them different ground. I buried the pots leaving only about 4 to 6 inches above ground level. I do have to admit that I filled the pots with the dirt I dug from around the pots. That was before I learned the importance of good soil. Still, I have to say the pots were a success. The soil in the pots remained dryer since it was separated from the rest of the bed which was subject to rain runoff from the house. The begonias thrived in the dryer conditions and because the level of the pot was higher than the ground, it gave height and dimension to what was otherwise a pretty but flat garden

It was then I realized just how versatile and productive container gardening can be. I now almost exclusively plant my annuals in containers for best results. I leave the heavy clay soil to the perennials which are better suited to those conditions.

There are many good reasons that container gardening is an attractive option. First and foremost, you can control soil conditions. Annuals grow much better, bigger and faster in good potting soil than they will in our clay soil. And when you have a short growing season like we do here in Minnesota, that’s important. Also on the short season note, you can start early! Generally here in the middle of Minnesota it’s not safe to plant annuals in the ground until Memorial Weekend, as a general rule. That’s pretty late in the season if you ask me as I start to get eager to play in the dirt around March. I do manage to hold off to the beginning of May for my pots though. If there is threat of frost as there often is here in May, I can just bring the pots in for the night.

Container gardening can be done in any amount of space so whether you live in an apartment or a house, you can have beautiful plants. Containers can be grouped together for a big effect or they can add height and interest to an otherwise flat bed. Pots can liven up dark spots and fill in dead spots where nothing else will grow. They are also portable so if something isn’t thriving in a particular spot it can be easily moved. And last, almost anything can be grown in a pot, including fruits and vegetables.

Container gardening adds a whole other dimension to traditional gardening and the two compliment each other nicely. In the coming weeks I’ll share some how-to’s of container gardening, different way to use containers in the overall gardening scheme, container designs and some of my favorite flowers for containers.