Petunia
Flower · warm season · also called wave petunia, supertunia
When to plant
- Start seeds indoors about 10 weeks before planting out.
- Plant outdoors about 1 week after your average last spring frost.
- Ready to harvest about 50 days after planting out.
Most gardeners buy plants. Feed often and trim leggy stems in midsummer; spreading types reach 2–3 ft.
Frost dates depend on where you live. Enter your ZIP code to get exact dates.
Dates by zone: 3a 3b 4a 4b 5a 5b 6a 6b 7a 7b 8a 8b 9a 9b 10a 10b
Growing basics
Not edible.
- Sun
- Full sun (6+ hours)
- Spacing
- 10–12 in
- Soil temperature
- At least 60°F
- Time to harvest
- About 50 days
- Containers
- At least 1 gallons
- Plant family
- Tomato family (nightshades)
- Seeds keep
- About 3 years
Companions
Keep apart: the cabbage family (brassicas). Cabbage-family crops and tomatoes compete and can stunt each other.
Keep apart: Potato. Potatoes share blight with tomatoes, peppers, and eggplant.
Pests and problems
Grow it well
Tips
- Move crop families every year. Pests and diseases build up in the soil. Don't plant tomatoes where tomatoes, peppers, potatoes, or eggplant grew last year: they're one family and share the same problems.
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