How to Grow Common Garden Petunia (Petunia Hybrida)

Among the easiest of flowers to grow, petunias are a cheerful standby of cottage gardens everywhere. Now available in a dazzling array of colors, including soft yellow, many are also fragrant. Petunias are annuals, which means they last just one year. They do demand full sun and adequate water, but are otherwise low-maintenance.

Difficulty:

Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need

• Bypass Pruners
• Compost Makers
• Fertilizers
• Garden Spades
• Garden Trowels
• Mulch
• Plants

1. Buy petunia seedlings just about anywhere. They're available even at supermarkets.

2. Choose whatever color pleases your eye. But keep an eye out for form, too. The New Wave series of petunias cover areas up to 4 feet across and are excellent as groundcovers or in containers.

3. 

   Work a spadeful or two of compost into the soil first. Petunias do best in average, well-drained soil.

4. 

   Plant in spring after all danger of frost has passed. Follow label directions, spacing anywhere from 8 inches to two feet apart.

5. Mulch around petunias. This keeps their sticky leaves and flowers clean.

6. 

   Keep the soil at least slightly moist. When watering petunias, be careful not to get their flowers wet or they'll close.

7. Fertilize regularly. Petunias do best when fertilized every four weeks or so with a water-soluble fertilizer. Or work a 9-month slow-release granular fertilizer into the soil at planting time.

8. Pull out and discard after the first frost.

Tips & Warnings

• Petunias get rather ratty looking in mid-summer. Cut the plants back by one-third to one-half. They'll look bare for a week or so, but will reward you with a new flush of heavier, healthier bloom.