The gardener's guide to growing petunias

Easy to grow and available in a wide range of colours, petunias are the perfect flower to grow in your garden. Here's some tips on growing petunias, whether you're using a garden plot or a container.

• Few flowers come in the colour range that petunias boast. Petunia blossoms can be pink, scarlet, red, white, blue, purple or yellow.
• Some are subtly pastel, others are brazenly bright.
• They can be striped, streaked or enhanced by a contrasting central white "star" in the throat.
• Some varieties have double flowers with a fluff of petals in the centre, while traditional types are single-flowered.

• In spring and early summer, petunias are readily and inexpensively available as bedding plants at garden centres, home improvement centres and supermarkets.
• Some of the most vigorous petunias are propagated from cuttings and only sold as bedding plants.

• Petunias are steadfast performers. The biggest challenge is keeping abreast of the comings and goings of their flowers.
• You need to keep petunias tidy since they don't drop their flowers after they fade.
• At least once a week, more often if possible, clip off dead blooms to keep petunias looking neat and encourage new flowers.
• Petunias often will bloom themselves ragged by midsummer. You can easily help them make a comeback by clipping old stems back. Then, applying a soluble, high-phosphorus fertilizer.

• If you enjoy starting plants from seeds, sow the seeds indoors eight to ten weeks before your last frost date.
• Sprinkle the super-fine, powder-like seeds over the top of moistened commercial seed-starting soil.
• Don't cover them. Keep the soil moist and place the container in a sunny, warm place at 21°C to 26°C for two weeks.

• After sprouting, grow seedlings in a sunny place, preferably a greenhouse or under grow lights.
• In four to six weeks, you can transplant the seedlings into pots and continue to grow them in a sunny place.
• Plant the seedlings outdoors after danger of frost is past.

• Petunias are generally trouble-free.
• If smooth-edged holes appear in leaves and flowers, suspect slugs. Place shallow saucers of beer among plants in the evening to get rid of them.
• Petunias are sometimes affected by incurable viruses. If leaves begin to wilt or brown on well-watered plants, destroy and replace affected plants.

Pretty petunias seem to be everywhere in summer, and for good reason. These beautiful flowers are versatile and hardy. So much so that the main challenge is keeping their growth in check. But with regular maintenance, you'll have beautiful and healthy petunias.