Old-Fashioned Petunias

old-fashioned petunias

Old-fashioned petunias grow tall and will climb or even stand alone to 2 or 3 feet or more.  They have a deliciously sweet, subtle fragrance, and will literally take over an area because they reseed themselves.  I've seen huge beds of these flowers.  As you can see above, they come in a range of nearly white to dark purple and other colors in between.

Since they are so fragrant, it's a good idea to start them in an area south or west of wherever you plan to be enjoying them, since the prevailing breezes in summer come from south and west.  This will waft their scent right into your home or onto your porch or deck area.  

To ensure that old-fashioned petunias return from year to year, do nothing to them in the fall.  Let them stand right where they are and let the seed pods dry and fall onto the ground.  The following spring you can pull up the dry dead plants.  At times through the fall or winter, I've gone out when the flowers are very dry and crumbly and rubbed the flowers tops, dropping the seeds onto paper towels to reseed in a new location. When you get a good patch of these flowers started, you'll almost have to treat them like weeds and keep thinning them out ... and sharing them!  

Some people prefer only one color of petunia in any particular area.  To accomplish this, I've seen people pull out all flowers except the desired color from year to year and this way they manage to have a patch of all dark purple, all white, etc.  They also do perfectly fine grown in containers.

It would be nice to be like these flowers... strong, sturdy, determined, beautiful, and fragrant!

Blessings,

Katrinka