Varieties and color options
The flower petals of the presented variety can be red, yellow, pink, orange, crimson, dark pink, white, milky yellow, lilac, coral, purple. In addition, one flower can include a mixture of shades, have a delicate frame, a pronounced neckline, accented veins or a pronounced star.
Most varieties have a delicate pastel color. Usually, one tone flows smoothly into another, which creates an airy light effect, and the petals seem almost transparent, letting in the sun's rays. The most common varieties from the Dolce family include the following.
Flower diameter - 7-8 cm, can be offered in a wide variety of shades.
Diameter - 5-6 cm, petals are coral pink with a yellow neck.
Diameter 7-8 cm, the color of the flowers is pale pink with a yellow center
The diameter of the flowers is 7-8 cm, and their color is purple-pink with a yellow center.
Flowers with a diameter of 5-6 cm have a pale pink color with a cream-colored center.
The diameter of the flowers is 5-6 cm, their color is pastel pink with a creamy yellow center.
Planting and leaving
When planting and maintaining a crop, observe the following recommendations.
Sowing seedlings is carried out from February to March. Seeds scatter on the soil surface
Further, it is important to ensure that the soil is always moistened, and the temperature is maintained within +18 +20 degrees - then the first shoots will hatch for 14-20 days.
The pick usually falls in the period from March to April. To do this, select cassettes 3x3 cm
Grow seedlings at a temperature of +15 +17 degrees.
From April to May, shoots are transplanted into separate containers. Pick up a pot with a diameter of 9 cm and grow the sprouts at a temperature of +12 +16 degrees. Three-month-old seedlings can be planted in open ground, but only after frost.
The crop prefers to grow in light nutritious soil with a pH value of 5.5-6. It is recommended to feed the plant with a complex mineral fertilizer containing trace elements.
Watering is carried out at the root in the evening every 1-2 days; in the heat, you can moisten the soil in small portions in the morning and in the evening. During the flowering period, it is enough to water the plant once a week.
For information on how to grow petunia, see the next video.
Breeding tips
The question often arises of how to multiply the variety of petunias you like when you don't want to buy seeds every year. This kind terry large-flowered petunia propagated by cuttings. Let's look at some tips on how to make it right.
- Cuttings should be made from February to May.
- It is permissible to use last year's mother bushes and young plants that have grown from seeds.
- The largest bushes with the largest flowers should be selected from the mother plants.
- Plants should be stored for storage at the end of summer.
- At the end of winter, you should take care of the cuttings of the petunia. It is necessary to cut off the tops-cuttings from the mother liquors, cut them into 10 centimeters.
- Two, three sheets on top should be cut in half, the rest should be removed.
- Next, you need to place the cuttings in loose soil with moist sand. Drizzle a little.
- When the cuttings have fibrous roots, plant in pots with further care, as for any seedlings.
- If the reproduction was successful, then in mid-May you can transplant the seedlings to any convenient place.
Review of the petunia "Sophistika", see below.
Sophistry series petunia care
Young plants are planted in open ground only after the threat of frost has completely disappeared. When choosing a place to break a flower bed, preference should be given to well-lit places. Since in too shaded areas, the bush begins to lengthen and loses its spherical shape. Petunias grow well on drained, sandy loam or loamy soils with neutral acidity.
In the process of growth, petunia needs constant feeding, since the abundance of flowering depends on this. You can apply to the soil both complex fertilizers and a prepared solution of organic fertilizers. In addition to additional nutrition, the aisles of the bushes should be periodically loosened, which will allow the roots to more easily receive nutrients and moisture. To maintain a well-groomed flower bed from petunias, it is necessary to regularly remove dried flowers and leaves.
In landscape design
The plant is very popular in landscape design. With the help of it, flower beds, flower beds, rabatki, curbs are created. The flower is grown in floor and hanging pots and flowerpots. They are used to decorate verandas and balconies.
The photo below shows a beautiful large-sized urban flower bed. This is a monoclumba. It consists only of petunias. But they have different colors. Planted in straight vertical lines.
Here, ampelous representatives of this culture are grown in large containers, which are located at different levels. In each of the presented compositions, plants of one variety and one color are used.
In this photo, petunias are planted along the fence. They are all the same variety and color. Bloom densely and evenly.
In the photo of the Merlin series multiflora. Varieties: blue and pink. Planted in floor pots.
This flower bed is not only made of petunias. Bright orange marigolds grow in the center. Around them is a bright pink petunia. And around it is a beautiful Coleus.
The photo shows a luxurious multi-level flower bed of ampelous petunias of different colors and sweet potato morning glory.
Multilevel flower bed made of stones. On the upper level, petunias grow in bright pale and pale pink color. On the bottom grow yellow, light orange and dark orange marigolds.
The cultivars that are most popular with horticulturists
There are many varieties of annual crops. Below you can see the varieties of the most beautiful petunias.
Daddy
The inflorescences of the variety are large. Daddy blooms plentiful. The height of the bushes does not exceed 20-25 cm. The variety tolerates unfavorable weather conditions. However, it is possible to achieve abundant and long-lasting flowering only when growing an annual in an area with diffused lighting, which is reliably protected from drafts.
Note! The Daddy variety is actively used by landscape designers when decorating summer cottages and the local area. It is best to plant this variety together with a climbing petunia.
Flowers that bloom on the bushes at the end of May are painted in a pink, scarlet, blue and white palette
It is best to plant this variety with a climbing petunia. Flowers that bloom on the bushes at the end of May are painted in pink, scarlet, blue and white palettes.
Pikoti
During the flowering of the Pikoti variety, large inflorescences of various shades are formed on its bushes. The petals are distinguished by the presence of a white border. Such a culture is quite unpretentious to climatic conditions, calmly withstands high humidity, rains. The height of the bushes can reach 20-25 cm. The flowering of Pikoti petunia lasts from early June to mid-September. To grow them, you should take spacious flowerpots.
Pikoti variety
Storm
The Storm variety is not affected by wind and moisture. The shape of the inflorescences is round. The flowers are large enough. Petunia is resistant to various ailments. A prolonged rainy period will not affect the duration and abundance of flowering. The height of the bushes exceeds 30 cm.Flowers can be painted in white, purple, blue and red palettes. Blue petunia looks especially impressive when planted with perennial bushes that bloom in white.
Note! Plants give off an amazing smell during flowering
Polaris
The hybrid variety is resistant to a variety of ailments. The flowering period covers the whole summer. The height of the bushes reaches 25-30 cm. Petunia of this variety can be planted not only in flowerpots, but also in open ground.
Dreamms
The large-flowered hybrid is compact in size, despite the abundance of richly developed branches. The diameter of the inflorescences, from which a pleasant aroma emanates, reaches 12-13 cm. Landscape designers often use the Dreamms variety when landscaping a site.
Variety Storm
Fantasy
Variety Fantazia steadily tolerates temperature extremes. The development period of the plant is short. The flowering period lasts from late May to mid September. The wave-like shape of bright colors will effectively decorate any flower bed.
Hit parade
Neat annuals are distinguished by early flowering. The formation of inflorescences begins at the beginning of May. The leaf plates are small. Inflorescences can be painted in lilac, blue, blue and purple tones.
Titanium
Bushes, the diameter of which reaches 40-45 cm, erect. A large number of branches are formed on them. The height of the bushes is in the range of 25-30 cm. Oval leaf plates of a light shade are rather large in size. The flowers are pink. The outer parts of the flowers are fringed. In the central part, the inflorescences are colored beige.
Triumph
The multi-flowered variety is quite sensitive to a prolonged rainy season.
The striped corrugated petals in the central part are painted in darker colors. The diameter of the flowers reaches 16 cm.
Limbo
Petunia (the Latin name for an annual) of the Limbo variety is distinguished by abundant and long flowering. The bushes of this variety are undersized. The diameter of the inflorescences, colored in peach, purple, pink, silvery, white and purple shades, reaches 12-14 cm.
Polaris variety
Petunia varieties "Sophistika"
"Sophistika" belongs to the group of grandiflora, tends to change its color from light to bright. Let's consider in more detail the varieties of "Sophistika".
"Sophistika lime bicolor" is an annual plant with a spherical bush. Diameter - up to 35 cm, height - up to 55 cm. Coloring - yellow-pink, funnel-shaped flower. The size of flowers is up to 12 cm. Depending on the light and weather, "Lime bicolor" can change the color saturation.
Blooms for a long time: from about May to early November. Drought tolerant, very fond of light, but requires good watering. It is recommended to plant in pots, flowerpots, special containers for a loggia, a balcony. If planted in open ground, it is better under a roof, since with prolonged bad weather, heavy rainfall, wind, grandiflora can stop blooming.
You need to water regularly, but do not allow moisture to stagnate. And also do not forget about feeding the plant, the duration of flowering will depend on this. It is best to use organic fertilizers, periodically loosen the soil between the rows.
"Antique shades" - has a dense flowering, a height of 25–45 cm, and a flower diameter of 27–32 cm. It differs from the rest of the spherical shape, wavy edges. Coloring - light pink with yellow spots. The size and brightness of the inflorescences changes depending on weather conditions.
Like any type of petunia, "Antique Shades" requires timely watering, loosening the soil, fertilizing, removing wilting flowers and leaves. It is possible to keep the plant blooming even in winter by placing it in a lighted room at a temperature of +13 degrees and cutting off the shoots in advance.
It is planted in the ground after frost, requires moisture, but not stagnant water. It is preferable to plant in sandy loam soil, fertilize with suitable substances, remove withered shoots.
You will need to moisturize often, but you should not fill it. Also, do not forget about feeding the plant - this action will prolong flowering. It is best to choose organic fertilizers, if possible, loosen the soil between the rows.
Benefits of pethoa over petunia and calibrachoa
According to the creators of the unique hybrid, the novelty contains the positive qualities of both parents, but at the same time it is devoid of the shortcomings of its predecessors. What are the benefits of pethoa?
First, pethoa are more tolerant of adverse weather conditions than petunias. They are more resistant to temperature fluctuations. Pethoa flowers are much more persistent and do not look like hanging rags even after heavy rain. At the same time, in unfavorable conditions, they show great resistance to powdery mildew.
Secondly, pethoa, like petunias, are more tolerant of soil acidity. And if calibrachoa react negatively to high pH levels, then petjoa are devoid of these problems. This is a key characteristic for growing flowers in regions where tap water is very alkaline or soils are alkaline.
Thirdly, calibrachoa has a weak root system, which complicates plant cultivation and requires increased attention to it. Pethoa got a more powerful and vigorous petunia root system. Because of this, pethoa absorb nutrients much better than calibrachoa.
And this is important for healthy, rich foliage and abundant flowering.
Fourth, as mentioned above, thanks to the genes of calibrachoa, pethoa have very rich and often original petal colors that look "aristocratic". Sometimes I really want to describe pethoa colors as “tasty”, which is reflected in the name of cultivars, if translated into Russian: “Cinnamon”, “French vanilla”, “Caramel”, etc.
In addition, nursery breeders involved in the propagation of vegetative hybrids of annual plants noted that cuttings of pethoa are more viable, easier to grow roots and take root more easily than cuttings of petunias and calibrachoa. At the same time, the yield of cuttings from mother plants is greater.
As you may have noticed, the foliage of many petunias (especially older varieties) is slightly sticky. Pethoa foliage, like calibrachoa leaves, is practically non-sticky. This allows the faded flowers to fall off on their own without lingering in the foliage, keeping the plant neat and saving the grower's time for cleaning the bushes.
According to the gardeners who kept the pethoa mother plants in winter, the plant is easier for petunias to endure winter on the windowsill and on the southern window can winter without illumination and even continues to regularly bloom in separate flowers.
Since pethoa flowers are completely sterile and do not produce seeds at all, each flower tends to bloom for a little longer than many petunias.
If so many petunias need to be trimmed in order to look good due to the stimulation of the new flowering wave, then there is no need to trim the pethoa. These plants retain their compact bush shape and abundant flowering throughout the season, so they do not need to be rejuvenated.
Pethoa ‘BeautiCal Cinnamon’. Lyudmila Svetlitskaya
What is pethoa?
Pethoa is a relatively new plant on the market, so many gardeners most likely haven't even heard of it. But if you read the exotic name more closely, it is easy to guess that the name "Petchoa" is the result of the merging of parts of two familiar names for flowers: "pet" (petunia) and "hoa" (calibrachoa). After all, pethoa is nothing more than an interspecific hybrid of petunia and calibrachoa. According to the description in the catalogs regarding the appearance, the pethoa inherited large flowers from the petunia, and the unique color and small foliage from the caliahoa.
Important! Pethoa is not a traditional cross-pollinated hybrid followed by sowing.Petunia and calibrachoa have a different number of chromosomes and, according to botanists, crossing of such crops is impossible.
Pethoa was born in the laboratory as a result of a complex process of artificially preserving the embryo, which in natural conditions would be completely unviable. Pethoa propagates exclusively vegetatively: by cuttings or on the basis of plant tissue fragments (laboratory).
Pethoa flower sizes are, in fact, comparable to most varieties of hybrid petunias (approximately 6 centimeters in diameter). But, unlike petunia, most of whose cultivars have flowers that are slightly stellate with slightly pointed petals, in pethoa, like calibrachoa, the tips of the petals are more rounded, the dissection of the petals is barely noticeable, and the full face of its flowers is more like a circle. The pethoa's tube of accrete petals is also slightly shorter than that of the petunia.
Calibrachoa also enriched the color gamut of the petals of the new plant, because the petunia does not have a gene responsible for the rich true orange and bright yellow color. Almost all vegetative petunias that have an uncharacteristic color for the species were created using genetic engineering methods. So, a few years ago it even led to an international scandal.
Due to the natural tones of bright yellows and oranges for calibrachoa, petjoa has very unusual colors. In addition, pethoa petals have a special glow and rare depth of tones. The foliage of the pethoa is narrower and, indeed, smaller than that of petunias, but still its leaf blades are larger than the leaves of the calibrachoa.
The shape of the bush, as a rule, is spherical or ampelous, internodes are short, the bushes are very dense and their height is no more than 25 centimeters. In width, pethoa grows up to 80 centimeters in good conditions. Such a habit makes pethoa versatile and ideal flowers both for hanging container compositions and for planting in flower beds in gardens and in urban landscaping.
On the left is a spherical pethoa flower, almost identical to calibrachoa (below), on the right, a petunia flower of a more stellate shape with dissected and pointed petals. Lyudmila Svetlitskaya
Testing progress:
Sowing:
The seeds were in a plastic cone with a cap. In this case, there are 10 of them. Lilac complementunia F1 large-flowered I sowed 8 seeds. In Jiffy peat tablets provided by Aelita, 3 seeds of each variety ... I cover the container with the tablets with a film and put it on the south window, the temperature on the window is 20 degrees. Complimentunia lilac F1 large-flowered And 5 seeds each in the soil for petunias and coconut substrate, we mix everything in the proportion of 4 scoops of soil and 2 scoops of coconut substrate. We moisten the soil, lay the seeds in even rows on the top. Lilac complementunia row No. 1. Capacity in a bag and on the south window Purple complementunia F1 large-flowered
Germination:
A total of 8 seeds were planted. The first sprout appeared on 12.02 Last 28.02 Germination in tablets 3 out of 3 Germination in soil 2 out of 5 Total 5 out of 8 Total germination 62.5% Complimentunia lilac F1 large-flowered Complimentunia lilac F1 large-flowered
Bloom:
The first flower blossomed on April 14th.
The color is much more beautiful and richer than on the label. Diameter of the first flower 9 cm I plant it in black soil, the volume of the pot is about 2-2.5 liters, I add a pinch of Gumi Omi fertilizer to the soil. Complimentunia purple F1 large-flowered On May 26, I plant 2 more bushes in the ground, made a flower bed along the greenhouse from the remnants of laminate. Since the earth there is terrible, heavy clay , I brought in 6 meters: 3 buckets of sand, 4 buckets of black soil, about a liter and a half of buckwheat husks per plant, I mixed everything with my native soil. Before transplanting, I add a solution with Agrovit fertilizer to each hole, spread it according to the instructions - a quarter of water on a bucket of water Complimentunia lilac F1 large-flowered This is one of the most abundant flowering petunias I have. I have never seen this, so for me it is a pleasant surprise that one plant can bloom so profusely.Complimentunia lilac F1 large-flowered June 6th
Such beautiful bright flowers, and there are a lot of them! Complimentunia lilac F1 large-flowered Already September, Complimentunia blooms as brightly as in summer, it is warm outside, there is no rainfall, pests too. The bush is sprawling, luxurious, I can't believe it, but this is one plant! Complimentunia purple F1 large-flowered I try to take care of the branches so that the branches do not break from the wind, I put the pots on the ground. The flowers almost do not suffer from precipitation. Complimentunia lilac F1 large-flowered Complimentunia lilac is the very case when the flower in reality is much more beautiful than on the label. The color is rich lilac with a purple tint! Complimentunia lilac F1 large-flowered
Care:
Watering petunias in pots every day, except for heavy rains.
Top dressing with liquid fertilizer in June and from mid-August once a week, watered in the ground as the soil dries up.
If possible, remove dried flowers. Liquid fertilizer Here is the composition of the fertilizer: liquid fertilizer
Conclusions:
In conclusion, I can say that the lilac complimentonia pleasantly surprised me, I have never seen petunias bloom so beautifully and profusely! I am very pleased with this hybrid from Aelita, I will plant it with pleasure next season, there are still a couple of seeds)
Thank you for the attention!
