This made the planters look fuller and more groomed. The year I used her this way, at lunch one day I trimmed a good 6 inches off all over each planter. With containers, as time goes on, the plant may start to look a bit open. When I use her by herself in a container I will usually trim her back once in mid to late summer, something I never feel the need to do when she is planted in the landscape. The next thing you know, I had huge pink mounds of color in front of the garage. I've used her by herself in pots, putting 3 plants each in 20 inch diameter planters. Supertunia ® Vista Bubblegum is just as great in containers, both upright containers and hanging baskets (photo right). She can also hold her own when mixed with red and bright yellow.ĭon't think landscapes are her only talent. She is great with other pinks, purples and yellows. I've used her as an accent plant in my landscape beds every year since we introduced her. However, Supertunia ® Vista Bubblegum is also great as part of a mixed planting in the landscape. I've seen many public gardens use her in just this way (photo, top right, Cincinnati Zoo). It was the kind of bed I call "a 60-mile an hour bed." You know if you drove past and caught sight of the color, you'd whip your head around and ask "What's that?" Supertunia ® Vista Bubblegum alone is an amazing statement. It took her a few weeks to fill in, but then all summer long I had a blaze of hot pink. I've had her by herself in a bed 40 feet long by 3 feet deep. I've used her pretty much every way possible. Supertunia ® Vista Bubblegum spends every summer buried in an abundance of hot pink flowers. I also pull weeds as needed, but that is pretty much the extent of my maintenance, once the plants have been established in spring. I do water my landscape beds with a soaker hose once a week in the summer, if it gets too dry. I planted her out in May from a 4.25 inch plant, added some compost to the bed and then pretty much left her to her own devices. I have had a single Supertunia ® Vista Bubblegum planted in my garden, grow over two feet tall, three feet wide and five feet long (photo above left, the mass of pink in the foreground is one plant). However, she is super vigorous and when she encounters a vertical surface she will continue to push growth, which makes her appear to be climbing whatever structure happens to be conveniently close. She has no tendrils that will grasp an arbor and hold on. Now, Supertunia ® Vista Bubblegum isn't truly a climbing plant.
On more than one occasion, I've actually seem them appear to climb a wall or lattice work or even nearby tall plants. The Vistas, however, will mound up to 24 inches tall. They are great in containers of all kinds and are a wonderful annual, flowering, groundcover. Non-Vista Supertunia ® petunias are 6 to 10 inches tall and strongly trailing. However, the Supertunia ® Vista varieties - Bubblegum, Silverberry and Fuchsia - kick all of that up a notch. They are tough plants that come in a wide range of colors and I would recommend any of them to a friend.
They are vigorous, self-cleaning - so no deadheading is needed, covered in colorful blooms, very well branched, surprisingly drought resistant when planted in the ground and are super easy to care for. Then along came the plant that I am convinced is the best garden plant in the world, Supertunia ® Vista Bubblegum - the variety that made me fall in love with petunias again.Īll of the Supertunia ® varieties are excellent plants. Even after I was introduced to the joys of Supertunia ® petunias, I still used them only in combination planters, not by themselves and not planted in the ground. I don't like to deadhead, so until I learned about Supertunia ® petunias I pretty much avoided the whole genus. I have to admit, for many years petunias functioned more or less like wallpaper in my garden, when they were included at all. I've grown them all (most of them repeatedly) and love them! They were chosen to be heat tolerant, to need little to no supplemental water and to be easy to care for with no deadheading needed.
I really wanted to call this series of articles "10 Plants Every Gardener Should Try in the Landscape," but this seemed a bit long for a title.Whatever you call them, these 10 plants should be great in landscapes in almost any climate.