They had Petunias back then, and in those days they were still dependably fragrant. The flowers were smaller and came in a smaller variety of colors (often with a contrasting "starburst") but they held up to the weather better and were significantly more vigorous. Another difference was that in those days, at least in the warmer parts of the USA, Petunias were fairly easy to grow from seed planted in-situ. One did not buy hothouse-grown seedlings.

In the cooler parts of the world on the other hand, "Nastutiums" (Tropaeolums, actually), were very common. You see them all over "Peter Rabbit" illustrations from Edwardian England.

What I am talking about, of course, are "hardy annuals" and in part hardy biennials. You don't see them much anymore. They have mostly been replaced by hothouse annuals like the modern overbred Petunias, Pelargoniums ("Geraniums"), Impatiens xsultana (or whatever it's called these days), overbred modern "Marigolds" (actually "Tagetes"--real Marigolds are hardy), and similar tender annuals, tropical perennials, overbred plants whose seedlings can no longer survive outdoors, and other plants that are now mass-produced in hothouses.

Because of the cost of hothouse annuals, the fact that they don't perform all that well in my cool maritime climate, and the fact that constantly replacing them multiplies opportunities for introducing new diseases into my garden, I don't buy them anymore.

In my cool summers, Clarkias (which some people know as "Godetias") perform the same function but reseed themselves dependably, don't mind poor soil, bloom much, much longer, and are a lot less work for me. I carefully guard my beds, because they are hard to replace if I ever lost them...they have been replaced by ugly overbred dwarf hybrids.

There are a lot of very pretty and interesting annuals from California--many of them endangered in habitat. Chile also has quite a few from similar latitudes and climates. For rougher climates there are hardy annuals from Central Asia and similar coldwinter grasslands.

Look for suppliers of "heirloom seed". Unfortunately, a lot of it is not really "heirloom"!! However, you can sometimes find wild or near-wild versions of a lot of things that reseed themselves better than their too-domesticated kin. Sometimes it helps if you help them reseed for a few generations, until they start reverting.

In my climate and in warmer climates they produce Dahlia-like fat roots, that live over the winter and eventually get huge. The plants are potentially very long-lived. They are not fussy and are the quintessential back-alley flower growing in gaps between garages, fences, and the alley.

The original plants all had hot purplish-red flowers, but they have been bred into yellows, "pinks", off-white, and a near-red.

Someone could easily make some plants more afforable though. Sometimes I just buy one and propagate, especially fall bloomers like sneezeweed, in the spring and by fall my neighbors think I've spent a fortune on a whole flat. The guady fall chrysanthemums are perilously easy to root from cuttings. Same goes for impatiens, pelargonium, coleus, and fuschia, all of which can be over wintered indoors if you have the space. Buy once, never buy again!

I see what you're saying though. One can never underestimate the beauty and resilience of the morning glories crawling all over a back fence, or the purple coneflower springing up out of a concrete crack (true story!). Sometimes the best variety in a garden comes from just going back to basics and getting out of the garden center.