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Tue, Feb 25, 14 at 15:31
| Hi folks, Does anyone get petunia volunteers? What are your experiences with them. Last year I got maybe 20 or so. Fabulous show. This year I have hundreds. I have spent so much time moving them around my garden areas. I hate to pull a free petunia :-). I have plants that volunteer so much that they are culled. Can't do that yet for petunias. The interesting thing is that the first group germinated in July from spring flowers; another group around November and now a whole new group is germinating. The first group will burst into bloom soon. I just don't know what to make of all these free petunias. Any experiences like this? Thanks, Bob |
Follow-Up Postings:
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- Posted by ken_adrian z5 (My Page) on Tue, Feb 25, 14 at 18:16
| a weed is a plant you dont want;. in the wrong place ... too many of any given plant... makes it a weed .. get rid of excess... GUILT FREE .. everything in moderation... too much of a good thing.. can ruin a good thing ... never had a seedling.. up here in MI ... i cant think of anymore cliches... lol ... ken |
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| I grow petunias mostly in baskets, which doesn't make it easy for them to seed themselves. I once found a volunteer in a crack in the driveway, and once in a different planter that had been under the baskets the year before. Last year I did use a bunch as bedding plants, so it will be interesting to see if anything returns from them. Growing in Florida is a whole different experience than growing in WI - enjoy your abundance!! |
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| Thanks for the responses. Ken, believe me I know those weed cliches, but I can't bring myself to call these weeds, yet. Below is a picture of my last year volunteers. The red salvias behind the petunias are also volunteers. I have a lot of those everywhere also, plus coreopsis, black eyed susans, butterfly plants and more. Actually after years on buying seeds, this year is the first that I only bought one variety (Sparkle guara, an amazing new seed!!! already starting to bloom from a September planting) the rest of my garden are now herded volunteers. Meaning I am relocating all to be where I want them. Mandolls I have had petunias over the years, none volunteered until the last couple of years. Think they are from the petunia Laura Bush. Bob |
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| Stop, stop! This is killing me. It's even too early for me to start my seeds indoors - all I can do is work on my garden map and interact in these forums. It's 6 freaking degrees outside as we speak. (sigh) Have only had one petunia volunteer over the years - I should be so lucky. :) Lovely garden display! - Alex |
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| Alex, I can relate. Lived near Detroit once. I remember thinking in Feb that I had 3 months to go before the final threat of freezing was over. Had a lot of great tulips, German Iris and many other plants that can't grow down here. Matter of fact that is what is so important about a volunteer. "They like me, they really like me." :-) and it's taken years to find those flowering plants that will actually survive in this heat, bugs and other enemies ready to take down my flowering plants. Just an off the wall example: The ARS only lists 2 roses suited to grow in my zone...only 2. And they are right. I could grow many more varieties in other parts of the US I lived. So you will be enjoying beautiful blooms in the summer when many of mine are done. |
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- Posted by grandmamaloy 7 (My Page) on Wed, Feb 26, 14 at 11:41
| SO gorgeous! Count your blessings! To prevent volunteers, deadhead the blossoms before they go to seed and you might switch to growing hybrids, as these are less likely to result in "volunteers", although THAT'S not guaranteed either! I know there are gobs of people just wishing they had your problems! Count me in! |
Here is a link that might be useful: Hybrid Petunia options
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| Thanks Grand... I went crazy hybridizing petunias last year. I crossed the best; marked the stems to keep track of the pods and harvested carefully. Very happy with all the work I did...well, except for one thing. ..None of those seeds germinated! Sorry Grand, I just reread your post. You said BUY hybrids. You are no doubt correct about that. It's this variety of petunia, has to be. A petunia that is just plain easy and eager to germinate. I am not complaining. I love my volunteers. And there is a great feeling once the final volunteers have been relocated or given away. Of all the volunteers I get there are only 5 most sacred that I try to save every one:1. Yvonne's salvia, 2. Petunias, 3. Guaras, 4. Black-eyed Susans and 5. coreposis. (Well actually, also a certain Shasta and small flowered zinnia and Pentas :-) ). On the other hand I pull all Four o'clocks, and Maximilian sunflowers and most ruellia and Texas sage salvia. Thanks for the link, Bob |
This post was edited by bugbite on Wed, Feb 26, 14 at 14:49
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- Posted by dowlinggram 3 (My Page) on Wed, Feb 26, 14 at 16:24
| I live in zone 3 and I have had volunteers come up but I never keep them because by the time they come up and grow to flowering size the summer would be half over. Besides I always have more petunias than I need from seed planted in my greenhouse. I have even had the odd one winter over. Petunias are pretty frost hardy. The hybrid theory doesn't wash with me because I only buy hybrid grandiflora petunia seed |
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