Pretty Pink Petunias

This past summer, Mom and I visited the trial gardens at Michigan State University. That was like walking through a candy store, with the colorful array of annuals in full bloom laid before us in strips like aisles in a floral supermarket. The thought that kept running through my head was, "I'll take three of those, six of those, and ALL of those!"

Some of the plants that really caught my eye were, of all things, petunias. Even though I've grown them every year in some variety or another, I was still somewhat of the mind that petunias were overused, boring, and a grandma flower. But I kept returning to look at them here and by the time we left, so had my previous stereotypical thoughts about them.

First, there was 'Antique Shades.'



And then I was smitten with 'Lime Bicolor.'


I took note of them and will look for them next spring. In the meantime, a lovely pink petunia came up volunteer on our front brick walk here at Our Little Acre.

While I don't know exactly which one it is, it's most likely an offspring of a pink Wave variety that I had in my flower boxes on the front porch two summers ago. They bloomed like crazy and no doubt thousands, maybe even millions, of its seeds fell to the ground below.

When my parents came to help spruce things up before the garden walk in August, Dad wanted to pull it out. He thought I wouldn't want it growing in the brick walk, but I was perfectly content to let it remain and do its thing. How could anyone destroy something as lovely as this?

Today, the latest issue of Horticulture magazine arrived in the mail and there was yet another petunia staring me in the face that is now on my want list for next spring:

Photo by Proven Winners

Supertunia 'Pretty Much Picasso' is brought to us by Proven Winners.

With their ease of growing and the great new varieties there are to choose from these days, petunias aren't just for grandmas anymore!