Landscaping tips
Ampel petunia is an amazing plant that allows you to create unique landscape design compositions.
Even a simple planting in a row along a path or near a fence will already look very beautiful. From these flowers, you can break a flower bed in the center of the lawn or fold an alpine slide, covering it with a thick waterfall of flower vines. Colorful mixborders and compositions with stones or sculptures will be a real decoration of the summer cottage. They can be multistage, square, oval, in the form of a flower river or a large thematic pattern.
Vertical flower beds are an amazing sight to create in your garden. For this, the metal mesh netting is rolled up and lined from the inside with black covering material. The pillar obtained in this way is filled with soil. Then the required number of holes is made, into which the ampel petunia seedlings are planted.
A very original version of a vertical flower bed is a tree made from petunia bushes. Trunks and branches can be made from any material at hand and buckets, pots or baskets of earth can be attached to them. Petunia trees look very impressive.
Baskets with bushes of ampelous petunias Opera, suspended on brackets mounted on the walls of houses, gazebos or other summer cottages, have a gorgeous look. You can even decorate a wonderful flower garden from these plants on a fence, planting them in decorative pots, buckets and any other containers of the required volume.
In combination with petunias in a flower bed, many garden flowers will perfectly harmonize, in particular, calendula, balsam, sweet peas and begonia.
The flowerbeds are best placed in open, sunny areas, but shaded during the hottest midday hours. Any building or dense tree located on the south side can give this shadow. Petunia will bloom slightly worse in places where the sun is shown only for half a day. In deep shade, it is better not to plant it at all.
Peculiarities
Cascading petunia is very common. It is one of the varieties of ampelous flower and has a number of its own characteristics. Let's get acquainted with their list.
- Cascading petunias are distinguished by rather elastic and dense shoots. They can be up to 1.5 m in length. They are so strong that they do not break, even if they are affected by gusts of wind. Greenery grows here thanks to axillary shoots. Initially, they rise upward, and upon reaching a certain length parameter, they begin to fall downward.
- Outwardly, this beautiful plant in many ways resembles a ball with long falling lashes, if placed in a hanging pot.
- The buds of this spectacular plant usually grow quite large - up to 5 cm. On one plant, all flowers have the same dimensions.
- Cascading petunia can hardly be called a very capricious plant, but it needs proper watering and timely feeding. These questions are especially acute when it comes to the period of flowering and the formation of new buds.
- Too much water can seriously harm the cascading petunia. Even if it is collected in a pallet, this can soon lead to the fact that the roots of the flower begin to rot.
- This charming plant is kept not only on balconies and loggias, but also in public places. Very often, cascading petunias can be found in parks and squares. Many owners use petunias to decorate their gardens and gazebos.
- Do not think that cascading petunias are the only species of this plant.
How to grow a culture?
Petunia "Picobella" is ideally grown using a seedling technique. The fact is that negative temperatures are contraindicated for a flower. It is recommended to use for the preparation of the potting mix:
- 2 parts of good humus;
- 1 part garden soil;
- 1 part washed and calcined sand;
- 1 part coconut substrate.
It is necessary to plant petunias in pots with the help of vermiculite. This breed will play the role of a moisture accumulator. It will be given to the plant as needed. It is necessary to moisten newly planted petunias with an interval of a day. The earth must be kept moist (but not wet).
Some gardeners achieve excellent results with store-bought ready-made potting mixes. However, a self-prepared mixture may not be worse. The main thing is that complete disinfection is carried out. It is often practiced to add a solution of potassium permanganate to water.
As soon as shoots have appeared, it is necessary to immediately begin daily airing of the "greenhouse". To keep the flowers as beautiful as possible, you need to create a hot and dry atmosphere. It is imperative to carry out top dressing, otherwise you will not be able to realize the benefits of rapid growth.
As soon as new foliage appears, watering is done less often (1 or 2 times in 7 days). It is possible to determine as accurately as possible the suitable conditions taking into account the weather. At the same time, it is recommended to add soluble fertilizers to the water. For drainage, fine expanded clay or cleaned coarse sand is usually used. The drainage layer should be at least 5 centimeters.
In the open field, this petunia, like any other, can feel normal only at temperatures from 20 to 25 degrees Celsius. When it gets hotter, the root ball can dry out. Old, withering flowers should be removed with miniature garden shears. If they are not at hand, a manicure tool will do.
