Have you grown "Potunias"

I have never grew these and would like some feedback if you have. The claim is that these petunias remain a round bubble shape and don't split in the middle or crash like some of the other petunia varieties.

Official Potunia Web-site: http://www.potunias.com

Apparently they are only available as plants??? If they aren't available as seeds, that would make them rather expensive if you needed a lot of them.

ZM

Yes, they are vegetative and propagated by cuttings, as are many of the other hybrids.

Now the merchants want us to grow mounded petunias
when in previous years they wanted us to grow spreading "wave" petunias.
The "mounded" mums do not all become "mounds" and I doubt all of these will either.
I stay clear of the "vegetative" plants and want to start from seeds.

CL,

I, too, prefer to start from seeds. But the really fancy varieties of most ornamentals are "vegetative" and hopefully they are good enough to justify the higher price of plants. The pictures at the Potunia website show that they do indeed look good in pots. I am glad that joannabanana posted this message, because I hadn't heard of Potunias before. Next year I might grow a few of them in pots near our front door.

ZM

I've been busy researching the different petunias and have found some really interesting info.

Caroline, there are many new varieties that only available as bedding plants for different reasons. Seeds are sterile, variety still has a patent pending, variety propagation is protected.

The mounding characteristic is desired to keep the centre height of the planting, so as the plant grows it does not split or crash in the middle. Easy Waves have more centre height than Waves. I use Waves in my baskets to give a "Drape Look". Easy Waves will keep their height more than Waves.

The new hybrids have some great improvements to the original petunias. Most hybrids are free-flowering and/or continuous flowering, which means they do not need diligent deadheading to have new bud formation, hence more flowers. Any varieties that claim early flowering are less daylight sensitive - older varieties need 12+ hours of daylight to produce buds.

Grandiflora hybrids have large flowers - Dreams (seed variety) They are more upright and look great in a flower bed or planter.
Multiflora hybrids have medium sized flowers - Easy Wave (seed variety). Multiple buds form along the individual branch. In a hanging basket they trail, in the ground they spread as low ground cover.
Milliflora hybrids have small flowers - Picobella or Shockwave (both seed varieties). Picobella is an upright plant, whereas the Shockwave are trailing/spreading.
Floribunda hybrids like Madness (seed variety) are a cross between Grandiflora & Multiflora.

Each variety has a unique look, be it flower size, plant growth habit or continuous flower bud formation. Once you figure out where you are planting it and what look you are after, then you can figure out whether, Upright, Mounding or Trailing varieties are what you want.

Yes, there are great seed hybrids available, but do check out the vegetative ones too.

Edit to add: Another huge benefit of the vegetative varieties is the color selection. You will not find the unique colors in seed varieties.






This message was edited Oct 17, 2010 8:59 AM

JB,

Thanks for all that petunia info. And, if you want Calibrachoa (Million Bells -- a close relative of Petunias), you will find them only as vegetative plants. Also, now there are a few Calibrachoa-Petunia hybrids in the market, also vegetative only.

ZM

Potunias have just become available as plants here in the past week. They're the first petunia to be released down here this fall for your Florida winter garden. The containers were just labeled "Potunia" so I had to figure out the colors based on the Potunia website (www.potunias.com). Here's a hanging basket I purchased on Wedn. I'm pretty sure these are "Potunia Deep Purple", "Potunia Pink" and "Potunia Lobster". I also purchased a few "Potunia Blue Ice" plants and planted them in a flower bed.

Jon

Thanks for the info on petunias and potunias.
I just worry that too many of the old seed varieties are going to be lost as
more of the big chemical companies buy up seed companies.
So many of the petunia varieties no longer produce seeds.
Next year I am growing "Old Fashion" petunias from seeds.
I will just buy one plant of the newer varieties to see what they are like.

My own hybrids (when I can get the plants to seed) are more interesting to me.

Are potunias annuals or perrenials? Here in SA they have been marketing perennial petunias, but they look ma lot like potunias. Unfortunately no name tag...

I think all petunias are perennial in warmer climates.
Here we have to bring them into house to overwinter them.
I have only done the occasional basket over in the house.

Petunias are annuals down here that do well outside from October-April. They immediately die when our weather turns tropically hot and humid in May. Perhaps they would "oversummer" in the house, under lights, but I've never tried that. I know...I know "oversummer" sounds like a strange word, doesn't it!!!!

Jon,

Great basket. Please keep us up-dated whether or not it holds it's bubble shape or if it splits in the middle over time.

Will do. I believe I had some Potunia "Cappuccino" plants last year.....pretty sure I did. They stayed nice until it got real hot in May and then croaked.

Here in South Africa they do better in winter. Once summer sets in, they get very leggy, and die (I'm sure it is from heat) Apart from that, they don't like water on their flowers, and we are in a summer rainfall area.

We have such a wonderful collection of flowers that do flower in summer, and also in winter, that we don't even think about taking them inside. :-) "Spoiled" I think... LOL!

Joannna, thanks for posting this (this is new to me!) and thanks for all that info you posted above. I may look into trying a pot of these next spring if I can find them. Beautiful pot, Jon!

Dee