Start growing
Requires full sun and regular fertilizer (heavy feeders). Prefer well-drained soil.
GROW SOMETHING WONDERFUL
Petunia
Petunia × hybrida
Your guide to planting, growing, and getting to know this plant.
THE PLANT NOTEBOOK
Petunia care, from seed onward.
- Botanical name
- Petunia × hybrida
- Common names
- Garden Petunia
- Family
- Solanaceae
- Genus
- Petunia
- Species
- P. x hybrida
Growing with your kit
The Seeds In A Cup® Methodology involves 'Probing for Nectar' – teaching how hawk moths pollinate these deep flowers.
Propagation
By seed (very tiny, need light to germinate) or cuttings.
Seasonal growth & harvest
Blooms continuously from planting until the first frost. Sticky stems and leaves.
Growing conditions
Sunny garden beds and hanging baskets.
Weather & tolerances
Highly heat tolerant; low frost tolerance.
Pests & plant health
Budworms and Botrytis (in humid weather).
Plant safety
Non-toxic to humans and common pets.
Botanical features
A sprawling, tender perennial usually grown as an annual. Trumpet-shaped flowers are often fragrant at night.
Varieties
‘Wave’, ‘Supertunia’, ‘NightSky’.
Garden & everyday uses
Number one global bedding plant. excellent for window boxes and hanging baskets
Native range & distribution
Native to South America.
Conservation
Abundant globally.
Name origins
From the Tupi-Guarani word ‘petun’ meaning tobacco, to which it is closely related.
History
First discovered in Argentina in the early 1800s; modernized through extensive hybridizing in the 1990s.