I love the double cascading type. The seed is expensive but I have had excellent germination rates when wsing them. Just sprinkle on top of the soil and use your fingers to press them in a bit. They seem to fill out better for me and look nice the entire summer. One trick I learned, when doing an internship at a greenhouse, is to break off a stem or 2 on each plant early in the season. This will give you nice growth come the dog days of summer! Good Luck!!!

ccoupkir,will I need to dead head this kind? I know myself well enough, to know I will not stick with deadheading,hhaha
Where did you buy your seed?
Thanks,cAROL

Carol, some of the newer hybrids claim to be self cleaning, but if you can't stand dead blossoms, (like me) don!t plant them too close. When I grew them in pots on my porch i never sat all summer, HAD TO DEADHEAD! If they growing a little further away, they're OK, I can't see dead blossoms.

When I grew the double, I HAD to deadhead. Faded flowers looked too messy.

Karen

Any of the spreading/wave types are great and don't need deadheading; the flowers are smaller in size than the "normal" ones, but make up for it in the numbers of blooms that engulf a plant. The most recent ones I've grown are the "shockwaves": {{gwi:364637}}

but the "tidal waves" are nice too (the lighter colored ones in the photo): {{gwi:364638}}

as are the "avalanches":
{{gwi:364639}}

Harris Seeds has a great selection of petunias (though a bit pricey, but you get a lot of seed). Summer Hill Seeds has a great selection, too.

For an upright the doesn't need deadheading, 'Laura Bush' has been the best for my money. I've only seen them available online at Wildseed Farms or Seedman.com

PV

Carol.
Swallowtail's Supercascade may be your answer. Last year I ws'd in March, suffered a back injury and had grandson (who had never planted) plant in bed. They flourished on total neglect. They were never deadheaded, trimmed and seldom given supplemental watering. They were still blooming after several killing frosts. Finally to clean the bed for winter, I yanked (and dug) blooming plants.
This year I ordered bulk Supercascade for bedding, containers and window boxes. They were most rewarding.

I have tried tons of diffrent types/kinds. And I have found that petunias are quite forgiving in the deadheading department. Some are "self cleaning" But with mine I have planted close together and then some with more distance between closer is better I didn't deadhead because I was collecting seeds so my face in the plant every other day.So if it needed "picking" at I would do it then. My biggest problem was cutting a healthly plant this I have trouble but I think I need to try it this year to get fuller plants.

If you would posted this sooner I could've hooked you up with at 10 different colors of petunias but now I am almost out of petunia seeds. But swallowtail seeds garden does have quite a few colors and types to try including some self cleaning.

Paula

I grew tidal wave silver last year. They were pretty but I had them in much-too-small pots. They would have been better in more soil.

Karen

Pvick, your petunias are beautiful!! I am so glad I bought a couple packs from Swallowtail, 'Daddy Peppermint' and 'Aladdin white'. Don't know if they're cascading or self-cleaning or what, but I love Lt. pink and white petunias, and am usually pretty good about deadheading and pinching back.

I usually buy 6-packs, but this is the first year WSing Petunias. I sowed them in 16 oz cups yesterday, was trying to sow 5 seeds neatly spaced apart. The seeds are so tiny! How on earth do you sow this? There wasn't really enough seeds in the packs to scatter them in the cups.

Ok, from the pictures,and all your comments, now I really want to try them, I will look into ordering some seeds.
My plan is to WS, them on spot,in a few hanging planters.
Wish me luck. :0)
Thank you for all your help,
cAROL

So, cAROL, did you ever get around to sowing your petunias?

PV

Do you all sow them in now or in March? I thinking about trying my hand at petunia's.

I usually sow Petunia in late February or March. They will not germinate until it gets a bit warmer anyway.

Petunia 'Laura Bush':
{{gwi:215417}}

For those "self cleaning" ones: keep in mind, if you don't remove dead blossoms, Mother Nature will do it for you. But if you plant them on or bordering your porch, deck, or patio, those dead blossoms can make a mess when they fall from the plant. Plan to sweep daily if you want a clean porch. And they're sticky.

These were my WSown tidal wave silver last summer. Notice the mess on the floor around the pot.
{{gwi:350186}}

Karen

Merry Christmas Carol! :)

I got my Petunia Laura Bush seeds from Mone back in 2009! Merry Christmas Mone!

Merry Christmas Karen! :)

cool! I have some petunia seeds coming in the mail!

I will do as you do, pitimpinai and sow in late feb/march as I am in chicago...

I generally thought we were zone 5- but you list 6?