Wave petunias are trailing petunias and usually grown in baskets so yes they are supposed to be low to the ground. It's impossible to tell you the variety of the purple one. There are many different varieties and they usually include purple ones.

A word about growing petunias. When you deadhead do you just remove the spent blossom or do you take off the seed head too. The seed is a little ball right behind the flower. Petunias are a part shade flower. They will survive in sun but not hot sun with lots of humidity. In that type of climate they should be planted so they are shaded from the midday sun. They also won't withstand long periods of drought

Yes, I cut off the seed head. But oops on where they're planted. Geez, I've always read they need a lot of sun and water.

I have two growing in pots so I'm off to put them in the shade. Thanks!

i still see a lot of seed heads there ....

ken

No okleyok--- you are wrong about the water too. Petunias--especially those pots--like to dry out a bit between waterings. They don't like a prolonged dry spell but they don't like to be kept constantly wet either--that's a sure way to kill them. Let your pots dry half way before watering them. Those in the ground will not be as picky

Ken, can you pinpoint the seed head for me? They've been in the ground about 2 weeks now, and at first I just pulled the spent blooms off until I read last week to cut the seed head. I'll take a closer look.

Oil, with our OK winds and heat, all the plants in pots that are in the sun needs daily water. And since the Petunias in the ground are new, I keep them watered once a day, they really perk up when I do that.

I've read two different things now. Water and not a lot of water. I know I'll fail again. LOL!

No you won't. Go by the pot not what anyone says. We aren't there. Water but just don't overwater. They perk up in the ground because you are cooling them off and if you have lots of heat and wind they probably need it. plants like to be watered but not too much water. When I water my flower beds, I saturate the ground. I water until the water is just laying on the ground and I may come back and do it again. Then I don't water again for a week or 2. It works for me but maybe not for you

If I have one word to say to any new gardener it's--Take advice from people who know, but take it with a grain of salt--often it is conflicting because we don't all have the same growing conditions and we tell you what works for us. Find out what works for you and stick to that. Maybe grow or buy a couple of plants and experiment. Experienced gardeners weren't born knowing what works for them. They have learned through trial and error and many dead plants along the way

Good luck with your Tunies

anyone else see the pods that were somehow left??

my point .. i dont think you are deadheading as well as you might

once they set any seed .. flower performance goes down hill .... since seeding is its only goal in life ...

ken

Ken, she said she deadheaded after she took the pic. I seldom deadhead waves. They don't start setting seed until late August or early Sept. I do trim the ones that are in the pot every so often, but I normally leave the ones in the ground alone.

Kat

Ken, when a flower is spent (not shown in the picture) I clip the stem which holds the whole flower.

I used to just pull the flower alone off, but I don't do that anymore.

Oilpainter, thanks for the advice. I have no idea why I fail with Petunias. Everyone says how easy they are to grow, but with the serious deadheading having to be done, I don't think they're as easy as implied. lol

Those two-toned ones are probably easy wave burgundy stars, if they are waves. Mine tend to be predominantly burgundy, however with less white.

Waves do better in ground than in pots, btw. Petunias are heavy feeders, so using a product like osmocote when you plant them is a good idea. Waves are designed to be lower maintenance. IOW, no......you do not need to deadhead them in that they are self-shedding with the old blooms and not large seed producers. That being said, they benefit from being sheared back occasionally. That's a lot easier than picking through and dead heading. I just take a scissor or hedge clipper and give them an occasional haircut, not being particularly careful about how much I take off. It will encourage lateral branching and clean them up. They are not a high maintenance planting in ground.

I plant mine in sun or partial sun. Too much shade makes them lank and leggy and lessens bloom. If they have good root systems going into summer they keep on keeping on, but look their best in cooler weather and often do a resurrection in beauty come late in the season when the nights get cooler.