Apr 9, 2019

Petunias Perfect for Baskets By Jasmina Dolce

Spring is here, and Mother’s Day is just around the corner. It’s that time of year — gardeners, homeowners, gift givers and more will be heading to their local garden center to purchase the perfect hanging basket. And when it comes to baskets, petunias are the perfect component.

But not all petunias perform equally; some stand out more than others in their given application, whether it be a basket or the landscape or a window box, etc.

In the March issue of GPN, columnist and industry expert Vaughn Fletcher focused on petunias in basket applications. Vaughn visited the Raker-Roberta’s trial in Michigan last August to evaluate the top-performing hanging basket varieties. His criteria includes: vigor, habit, foliage coverage, flower stability and saturation, durability and floriferousness.

The display consisted of more than 180 current and new petunia varieties. Each 14-inch basket had five plants moved into the trial area week 23.

Here is a handful of Vaughn’s top picks. To read the full article, click here.

‘Amore Queen of Hearts’
Danziger

Danziger’s Amore petunias are unquestionably one of the most stunning and dramatic bicolor series on the market. One of the most significant attributes is the series’ strong color retention. Queen of Hearts, with bright red hearts sharply contrasting with yellow stripes, is unlike any petunia. It has excellent retail appeal with application in quarts, baskets and containers.

‘Big Deal Pinkadilly Circus’
Westhoff

Big Deal is the most vigorous petunia series in the Westhoff collection. It features four colors and is characterized with Crazytunia-type flowers and a prodigious flower canopy. Pinkadilly Circus has been the most impressive variety with eye-popping purple-white flowers.

‘Sanguna Patio Radiant Dark Blue’
Syngenta Flowers

The new ‘Sanguna Patio Radiant Dark Blue’ offers the same unique and striking flower pattern as ‘Sanguna Radiant Blue’ but with a more compact and controlled growth habit. The early-flowering Patio series is applicable in high-density quart production and baskets. We have a multitude of novelty petunias to choose from, and this bicolor pattern is one of the most spectacular out there.

‘Tea Rose Morn’
Beekenkamp

The Tea series offers 10 colors on semi-trailing and vigorous plants with grandiflora size flowers. ‘Tea Rose Morn’ was one of the most floriferous and brilliant in the entire basket trial. The deep pink flowers with white throats were stunning. Additional colors and improvements will be available in the coming years.

‘Supertunia Vista Paradise’
Proven Winners

The petunia world has never been the same following the introduction of Vista Bubblegum in 2006, which helped raise the bar and set the standard for flower abundance and garden performance. Vista Paradise presents electric watermelon pink flowers and a prolific canopy. The heat and humidity tolerance were exceptional

Are you growing any of the mentioned varieties? Do petunia baskets make up a large portion of your production this spring? Which basket varieties are your top sellers? Shoot me an email at jdolce@greatamericanpublish.com, and let me know. I’d love to hear from you.

— Jasmina