Today is sunny but cool (37o) and extremely windy. When I went out to get the mail, I saw that some of the bulbs that are planted by the front door garden are coming up. For the last few years, this area has been very pretty in the spring. However, I'm not sure how it will look this year. In the fall, Ken put three pots of reddish-orange mums in the ground around a display stand with pumpkins/gourds. I haven't gotten around to taking the pots (with the dead mums) out of the ground so I'm not sure if the bulbs underneath them will germinate.

Last year, I planted wave petunias in pots and in several beds. The plants in the beds grew like crazy and had tons of flowers but I was disappointed in the ones in the pots. Unlike the potted wave petunias that I had the previous year, they were leggy and unattractive. I should have dumped them out but I kept hoping that they would recover. They never did.

So this year I bought two new types of petunias (Thompson & Morgan) from English Gardens. One of the varieties is called Salmon Velvet. There were only 12 seeds in the packet. They are described as the "best ever basket" petunia. They grow 6 inches high and are covered with flowers on stems that are 3 feet long. I planted the seeds last week and most of them have already germinated. I sowed the seeds in individual peat pots and placed them in a recycled food dish that has a clear top. The seed packet said not to withhold light during germination so I immediately put them under the grow lights. This Friday, I will take the cover off of the plants so that they aren't stunted by it over the weekend. I couldn't find any other information about these flowers online. I plan on using these petunias in the hanging pots that I have in the backyard.

The other variety is called Flambe Salmon petunia (Thompson & Morgan). There were 40 seeds in the packet. They are described as having yellow flowers that are washed with pink on compact bushes that are 10 inches high and have won the Fleuroselect Quality award. I would like to plant these flowers in the beds in the backyard in areas that get full sun.



Salmon Velvet Petunia


Flambe Salmon Petunia