Are they just old flowers fading?

tj

I thought that might be the case at first, but they seem to be appearing on younger flowers as well. None of my other petunias seem to be doing it, only the black ones.

any type of minor damage will make flowers fade faster ...

windy outside.. someone petting it a bit aggressively ..

dont worry about it.. petunia produce flowers all summer long.. and there are always new and old ones on the plants ... if there get to be too many.. just snip them off .. the sooner the old flower is removed.. the sooner it puts out new ones ... i use scissors ...

btw ... an annuals only reason for life.. is to procreate ..... produce seed .. so you should constantly be snipping off old flowers.. aka seed pods.. so it keeps blooming trying make more seed ... its called deadheading ... eventually in mid to late summer.. you may remove large branches.. aka... cutting it back ..

and just to be clear.. this particular seed will not come true from seed ... so no use in letting them mature ...

ken

Thanks for the information, Ken. I will keep watching the plant for signs of a pattern to the damage, but as I mentioned, it does seem to affect young flowers as well.

I have not noticed this type of fading on any of my other petunias. The old flowers wither, but do not develop strange markings. I know it is a characteristic of black varieties that they are more prone to color striping during periods of extreme temperature, I had wondered if this was likewise characteristic of the the hybrid, and whether or not steps could be taken to ensure as many healthy looking flowers as possible.

have you considered that its not all that unusual.. but the black tissue just makes it more apparent???

Are you spraying your gardens with anything? Insecticide, fungicide? I have had petunias do that when I got some of the rose spray on them.