Vive la blooming revolution!
It started 30 years ag0 – and the great petunia coup is still snowballing
THE fall of the Berlin Wall, protests in Tiananmen Square and Dirty Den’s shooting on EastEnders are just some of the events that made headlines in 1989. Yet, in the world of gardening, there was a significant story that slipped under the radar – the introduction of the first Surfinia petunia.
Unsurprisingly, this trailing annual didn’t make it on to the newspaper front pages, but its appearance was warmly welcomed by discerning gardeners and changed our summer bedding displays for ever.
Before then, petunias were often criticised for having dull flowers and a straggly appearance. Bred by Suntory Flowers in Japan, Surfinia petunias came in a range of bright colours with a long season of interest. The plants were vigorous, bushy and tolerant of wet weather.
Almost 30 years on, they have lost little of their allure – they still grace hanging baskets, patio planters, window boxes and displays in the ground from May until October. Despite their popularity, Surfinias are not the only type of petunia worth growing. Over the past decade there have many notable arrivals, from individual varieties to so-called series of petunias, such as ‘Fanfare Series’, containing a number of plants with an identical habit but different-coloured flowers.
Young petunias are available in late spring and early summer, but there’s more choice if you buy smaller plug plants online.
They are a diverse group of plants with trailing and upright types, boasting flowers that measure anywhere from 1in to 7in across. There are blooms with solid colours, bicolours and multiple colours; and ones with stripes, spots and other fancy patterns. Some appeal in different ways, such as ‘Surfinia Variegated Purple’, whose magenta blooms are displayed against a foil of green and cream-splashed leaves. Elsewhere, the blousy double flowers that cover the ‘Frills and Spills’ collection are heavily scented. The 17-strong ‘Designer’ series, meanwhile, boasts purple petals with green edges, cream blooms with intricate brown veins and orangey-red flowers with white eyes. Members of Petunia x hybrida ‘Wave’ series have spreading stems up to 4ft long that are covered with 4in-wide flowers in several bold shades. And the large, double flowers of Petunia ‘Tumbelina’ are scented and come in 23 shades. My favourite is ‘Tumbelina Cherry Ripple’ with white and red-striped flowers. Flowers are held on gently trailing stems down to 1ft.
FOR something more dramatic, check out upright Petunia x hybrida ‘Phantom’ with its black and yellow-striped blooms, or semi-trailing Petunia ‘Amore Queen of Hearts’ for its yellow flowers adorned with red heart shapes. ‘Night Sky’ has deep purple blue flowers with white spots.
Native to South America, petunias belong to the Solanaceae family of plants, making them the genetic relatives of potatoes, tomatoes and tobacco plants.
They will flower their socks off if given a warm, bright spot that gets at least five hours of sunshine a day – they’ll still bloom in light shade, but not so impressively. Plant them in pots filled with multi-purpose compost or well-drained, moist soil.
Upright types are great as centrepieces in containers, while trailing varieties are good in hanging baskets. Water regularly and feed weekly with a high-potash fertiliser.
Online petunia stockists include J. Parker’s (jparkers.co.uk) and Thompson & Morgan (thompsonmorgan.com).