Garden success with Wave® petunias

Wave Gardening asked me to write about my experience growing Wave® petunias this summer. I like how Wave® petunias quickly take off in the spring and drape so nicely along the edge of my blue pots. They also look great trailing down garden walls.

My husband, Bill, loves petunias, so I always incorporate several varieties in my containers and elsewhere in the garden.

Although Wave Gardening asked me to partner with them this summer, you know me. These are my personal observations.

You also know I’m serious about my container garden. In fact, I wrote a container gardening tutorial earlier in the year.

To be successful with any petunia in Oklahoma, I think it’s important to buy varieties that are spreading in nature. Wave® petunias fit the bill.

Buy your Wave® petunias at the right time of the year–the middle of spring after our last freeze but before hot weather sets in.

I bought mine as soon as I saw them at the box store after our last freeze around April 20. I grew several varieties, but Easy Wave® Burgundy Velour petunias stole my heart this year.

You can usually find Wave® petunias locally at Westlake Ace Hardware stores. They are easy to identify in their pink plastic pots. I also sometimes see them at the larger box stores.

For the best success with Wave® petunias, do the following:

• Always buy compact plants that are a healthy bright green. In spring, they should also be covered with flowers.

• Or, start petunias from seed and transplant them into the garden. My friend, Carol Michel, started her Wave® Carmine Velour, an AAS winner from seed, and she was very successful this year. You might ask, why start them from seed when you can simply buy them locally? Because you can access varieties you might not find locally, and if you follow the package directions, you’ll have plants ready at the perfect time of the year. I noticed the pansies and violas I started this year were the best I ever had. I’m planning on starting some Wave® petunias from seed next spring. You can easily start seeds indoors with a seed-starting station like mine.
• Watch your weather forecast closely, not just for the current week but two weeks ahead if possible. Petunias are tropical plants, and they like warmer weather.
• Water containers every day, and during especially hot times of the year, water twice daily. If you’re growing your Wave® petunias in the ground, you don’t need to water as often.
• Fertilize your Wave® petunias regularly for the best performance. You can use natural fertilizers or long-acting chemical ones. Both work. If you’re using a natural fertilizer, I would suggest also using a liquid fish emulsion-based fertilizer each week, especially in pots. When you water containers daily or even twice a day in our heat, you leach out a lot of the nutrients. To bloom well, your Wave petunias need a boost.
• Cut your Wave® petunias back in midsummer and maybe even again in late summer to encourage them to push out fresh flowers. Then, fertilize them. Here is a link to my Instagram post where I cut mine back.

If you give these plants a little extra care, they will reward you with flowers all summer and into fall. Have you tried any of the new Wave® petunia varieties? I think I’ll start mine from seed next year.

Until next time, keep growing.