How to grow petunias from seed

Petunia ‘Mirage White’ F1 Hybrid from Thompson & Morgan

Grow your own stunning petunias from seed this year
Image: Petunia ‘Mirage White’ F1 Hybrid from Thompson & Morgan

There’s a real sense of satisfaction in growing your own show-stopping display of petunias from seed. And the good news is that sowing petunia seeds isn’t difficult at all. Follow the advice from T&M’s petunia expert, Kris Collins, and produce a bumper supply of strong and healthy seedlings. Here’s our quick and easy guide to germinating petunia seeds.

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How to get the most from your petunias

Petunia ‘Pegasus Wine Splash’ from Thompson & Morgan

Petunia ‘Pegasus Wine Splash’ petals are attractively flecked with burgundy
Image: Petunia ‘Pegasus Wine Splash’ from Thompson & Morgan

Petunias are hugely popular bedding plants that you can order as plugs or garden-ready plants. Alternatively, you can sow your own petunia seeds as a cost-effective way to replenish hanging baskets and fill your garden with colour. 

Here, T&M’s resident expert, Kris Collins, shares a few simple tips to increase the flower power and longevity of your petunias. 

Why grow petunias?

Petunia 'Frills & Spills™ Susanna' from Thompson & Morgan

Buy scented petunias to add an extra dimension to your displays
Image: Petunia ‘Frills & Spills™ Susanna’ from Thompson & Morgan

Petunias are something I turn to every spring in order to get my garden ready for summer. I couldn’t be without them in my hanging baskets. Trailing types, covered in masses of fragrant trumpet blooms, such as Petunia ‘Easy Wave Ultimate Mixed’, are perfect for lending that luxurious feel to your summer garden.

Most commonly used in container displays, there are actually many varieties that work well in border plantings too. Prolific growth smothers weeds and traps moisture in the soil, whilst also providing a carpet of colour.

Petunias require very little specialist upkeep. As long as you’re prepared to water regularly and remove spent flowers as they go over, you’ll be in for a season of scent and colour right through to autumn.

Which petunia should I choose for my space?

Petunia ‘Back to Black’ from Thompson & Morgan

Petunia ‘Back to Black’ produces gorgeous velvety black flowers
Image: Petunia ‘Back to Black’ from Thompson & Morgan

When it comes to choosing your petunias, firstly consider where you want to grow them. Grandiflora types, like Petunia grandiflora ‘Cascade Pink Orchid Mist’ F1 Hybrid, are best saved for basket and container displays – the large blooms are better shown off at height, and will be less prone to weather damage and mud splash.

For a show-stopping petunia bedding display, multiflora types including Petunia ‘Frenzy Mixed’ are the best option. They have smaller flowers and more of them, creating a carpet of colour that will shrug off a summer shower.

How often should I water my petunias?

Petunia 'Surfinia' Collection from T&M

Keep hanging baskets out of direct sun to reduce water loss
Image: Petunia ‘Surfinia’ Collection from T&M

Watering is very important for healthy petunias. In the height of summer you may need to water containers and baskets twice a day, but at least every other day in an average British summer.

For those that work long hours and have less time for watering, it’s a good idea to move petunia hanging baskets and small containers to a shady spot during heatwave conditions, keeping them out of the afternoon sun until you can get home to give them a drink.

Alternatively invest in an auto watering system to reduce your workload and keep your baskets evenly moist.

Do petunias need deadheading?

Petunia ‘Trailing Surfinia White’ from T&M

Keep petunias blooming by removing wilting flower heads 
Image: Petunia ‘Trailing Surfinia White’ from T&M

Remove spent flowers as often as possible. Don’t just clear away the spent petals, but make sure to remove the entire flower head otherwise seed pods will form, the plant will think it has achieved its objective, and flowering will start to reduce.

Should I feed my petunias?

Petunia ‘Trailing Surfinia Purple’ from T&M

Petunia ‘Trailing Surfinia Purple’ produces electric flowers and long trailing stems
Image: Petunia ‘Trailing Surfinia Purple’ from T&M

Feed your petunias using a specialist petunia fertiliser for the best results. Add the fertiliser to the compost mix before planting containers and baskets and it will feed your plants for the whole season.

We’ve seen some excellent results with petunias in our technical trials for Incredibloom. Our one-off granular feed, applied at planting time to soils or composts, encourages up to 400% more blooms and provides everything your plants need for up to 7 months – covering the whole growing season.

Can I train my petunias?

Petunia 'Trailing Surfinia Blue' from Thompson & Morgan

Train your petunias by pinching out young growing tips
Image: Petunia ‘Trailing Surfinia Blue’ from Thompson & Morgan

Pinch out the growing tips of your plants during the early stages of growth, and do this two or three times before planting out to encourage side shooting. This will lead to much more compact plants with many more flowers.

By mid-August, some petunia varieties may start to look a little tired and straggly. To encourage a second strong flush of blooms to last well into autumn, cut the whole display back by a third and offer a general purpose liquid feed. Within a week or so the plants will start to bush out again and fresh new flowers will soon follow. Within 2 weeks, just in time for your August Bank Holiday garden parties, the display will again be in full bloom with no sign that it has been pruned.

If you’re growing your petunias from seed, aim to sow plants 10-12 weeks ahead of safe planting. So if you’re generally safe to start planting out bedding plants in your area from the 1st week of June, aim to sow your seeds in the first week of March. I’ll be looking at sowing petunias in more detail before then, so stay tuned!

We hope you’ve enjoyed this post and found our top tips helpful! If you think we’ve missed anything let us know! For even more info, visit our petunias hub page for lots more resources to help you grow and care for petunias. Get your garden ready for summer – check out our summer flowers hub page for advice, inspiration and top tips!

The history of the petunia

Petunia ‘Surfinia Star Burgundy’ from Thompson & Morgan

Surfinia petunias are a popular choice for hanging baskets
Image: Petunia ‘Surfinia Star Burgundy’ from Thompson & Morgan

There’s always a plant that, like Marmite, you love or loathe, and through the ages the petunia has often divided opinion. In fact, during the 1500s people believed that petunias were a symbol of demonic power because they harboured anger and resentment!

Part of the nightshade Solanaceae family, the petunia is closely related to plants like tobacco, cape gooseberry, tomato, potato and chilli pepper. Here’s a potted history of this fascinating flower, explaining how petunia seeds have been developed over several hundreds of years to become one of the most popular choices of all time.

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Hanging basket habits revealed

Nurserymans Choice Hanging Basket Mixed Collection from T&M

A vibrant display of hanging baskets can make your garden in summer pop!
Image: Nurserymans Choice Hanging Basket Mixed Collection from T&M

A recent Thompson & Morgan survey has revealed some surprising habits, when it comes to summer hanging baskets.

Love them or loathe them, nothing sets up the garden for summer like a vibrant display of hanging baskets. Thompson & Morgan, the UK’s leading mail order supplier of seasonal hanging basket plants, asked the nation’s gardeners how they use hanging baskets to best effect. The findings were most interesting…

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Best plants and flowers for winter colour

Garden in the winter with cornus and other winter-flowering plants and shrubs

There’s a huge choice of plants to bring your winter garden to life
Image: Andrew Fletcher/shutterstock

Create a garden full of colour, scent and interest this winter! Here’s our pick of the flowers, climbers, winter bedding plants and shrubs to help you to enjoy an all-year-round display and raise your spirits through the colder months. Looking for a little drama once the leaves have dropped? Here’s what to plant for a bright and colourful winter wonderland…

Best winter flowers

Winter pansies

Purple pansy flowering in the winter

Pansies continue flowering even in the depths of winter!
Image: Botamochy/Shutterstock

Pansies are a staple of the winter garden and they thrive in cold, icy weather. Pansy ‘Matrix™ Mixed’ is easy-to-grow – and extra strong. Specially bred for their branching habit and super-size flowers, the compact, sturdy stems hold their flower heads high, whatever the temperature. Plant them in hanging baskets, window boxes, containers and borders to ensure your garden is filled with vibrant colour throughout the coldest months.

Primroses

Primrose 'Husky' Mixed from T&M

Primrose ‘Husky’ Mixed provide a welcome riot of colour in winter
Image: T&M

Primroses are another ‘toughie’ for winter and spring colour, and will even push their brightly coloured blooms through coverings of snow. Primrose ‘Husky’ Mixed offers a vibrant rainbow of flowers that brighten the gloomiest of winter days.

While primroses feature single bloom stems, polyanthus produces a cluster of 15 or more flowers at the tip of a stem. Polyanthus ‘Firecracker’ is an eye-catching plant bearing yellow blooms edged with a fiery orange-red. Or try Polyanthus ‘Most Scented Mix’ for a bright and fragrant addition to your winter beds.

Cyclamen

Purple, pink and white cyclamen

Cyclamen hederifolium is striking planted on masse
Image: Konmac/Shutterstock

Cyclamen are the perfect ground cover plant for rockeries and woodland gardens and provide a stunning winter display. Cyclamen hederifolium will self-seed freely to create carpets of foliage and flowers from autumn to spring, before the foliage dies back in summer.

Hellebores

Hellebore 'Winterbells' from T&M

Hellebore ‘Winterbells’ flowers from December to April
Image: T&M

Winter-flowering perennials like hellebores, prized for their elegant, cup-shaped flowers, brighten up tricky shady corners and winter containers from December right through to the first signs of early spring. They’re also a popular choice for evergreen ground cover beneath deciduous trees and shrubs. Hellebore x hybridus ‘Mixed’ brings welcome shades of white, red, pink and purple to the garden. Meanwhile, the new ‘Winterbells’ variety – a unique hybrid of H. niger x H. foetidus that was once thought impossible – has a delicate pale green bloom with a pink flush.

Snowdrops

Closeup of snowdrops flowering

Delicate snowdrops flower in February and March
Image: Visions BV, Netherlands

With a gentle nod, snowdrops usher in the first signs of spring into your garden. A lover of dappled shade, these winter bulbs add colour in the most unexpected places. They’re also happy in containers and window boxes, should you want to get closer to the delicate honey scent of these cheerful little blooms.

Best winter climbers

Clematis

Clematis 'Winter Beauty' from T&M

Clematis ‘Winter Beauty’ flowers from December until February
Image: T&M 

For winter climbers, nothing beats a clematis. Evergreen, winter varieties will appreciate a sheltered site which offers protection from wind. Plant them against a warm house wall so you can appreciate their winter flowers from your window. Clematis urophylla ‘Winter Beauty’ is a beautiful, evergreen clematis with lush foliage and delicate, white, waxy, bell-shaped flowers that bloom from December to March.

Or try Clematis ‘Advent Bells’, a winter-flowering climber that has dainty blooms from November to the end of January. Its nodding, cup-shaped flowers are creamy-white outside, with showy, red-speckled markings inside and a prominent cluster of stamens. It will happily tolerate temperatures down to -10°C.

Winter jasmine

Winter flowering jasmine

Canary yellow jasmine flowers brighten up the darkest months
Image: Nova-Photo-Graphik GmbH

Unscented, canary yellow blooms smother the bare stems of Jasmine nudiflorum from February onwards – a sure sign that spring is on its way. This vigorous winter jasmine has a loose sprawling habit that can be trained with wires, but is equally happy to scramble over walls in a cascade of stiff, bright green stems. Fantastically hardy and easy to grow, this versatile climber requires little aftercare – but does benefit from regular pruning.

Winter honeysuckle

Winter honeysuckle flowers

Winter honeysuckle can produce tiny red berries as well as pretty white blooms.
Image: T&M

Wonderfully seasonal, creamy white flowers and red berries vie for attention on Lonicera fragrantissima (winter honeysuckle). But, as with many honeysuckle varieties, it’s the heady fragrance that’s the real heavy hitter. Whether you’d prefer it as a climber or a shrub, make sure to plant it somewhere you can get up close (even if it’s in semi-shade) to really appreciate its scent.

Best winter plants and shrubs

Sweet box

Sarcocca sweetbox from T&M

Discover the heady, honey fragrance of Christmas box!
Image: T&M

For winter fragrance, plant Sarcococca confusa, an easy to grow shrub also known as sweet box – or, even more seasonally, Christmas box! Its creamy white flowers might be inconspicuous, hidden beneath leathery foliage – but you won’t miss their powerful, honey-like fragrance. The flowers are followed by red, purple or black berries, which may last into the following winter.

Ornamental grass

Ornamental Grasses from T&M

‘Nigrescens’ adds drama and colour to the winter garden.
Image: T&M

For many gardens, flowers are in short supply during the winter, which is why it’s important to make the most of structure and texture. Enter: Ophiopogon planiscapus ‘Nigrescens’, a hardy, herbaceous perennial. It adds fantastically black, grass-like foliage – a bold choice that leans into the darkness of the season – and graceful bell-shaped blooms to the space. For the most dramatic impact, interplant it with snowdrops. Visit our grasses hub for more planting advice.

Dogwood

Cornus sanguinea ‘Winter Flame’ from T&M

Create a fiery winter display with Cornus sanguinea ‘Winter Flame’
Image: T&M

Who needs foliage when you have the ‘Winter Flame’? One of the best shrubs for winter colour, Cornus Sanguinea (also known as dogwood) lights up cold, grey gardens with a shock of fiery red, orange, and yellow stems in the autumn and winter. This deciduous shrub is a year-round showstopper, with the warmer months seeing it produce tiny white flowers, glossy black berries and verdant green leaves.

Viburnum

Viburnum x bodnantense ‘Dawn’ from T&M

Viburnum x bodnantense ‘Dawn’ flowers from October to April
Image: T&M

A great addition to borders or wildlife gardens, Viburnum x bodnantense ‘Dawn’ adds both colour and fragrance to the winter garden. Beautiful by any measure, the flowers bud in the darkest days, offering dark pink blooms on bare stems. While the flowers are remarkably tolerant of frost (and last longer than other winter flowers), should you want to cut a few stems for some indoor colour – go ahead! ‘Dawn’ is pretty prolific so you won’t see any ill effects.

Top tip from our horticulturist Peter Freeman: plant it next to your front door so you can enjoy the sweet, rich fragrance as you pass by.

Mahonia

Mahonia Collection from T&M

Bright yellow flower spikes brighten even the darkest corners of your winter garden
Copyright: John Glover

Commonly known as Oregon Grape, Mahonia x media is a superb hardy shrub for tricky shaded spots. The large yellow flower spikes bloom from November through to March, bringing colour and fragrance to your garden during the cold winter months. As the flowers fade, they’re replaced by bunches of purple berries, and the holly shaped, evergreen leaves look great all year round.

Wintersweet

Wintersweet collection from T&M

Cut a few sprigs of wintersweet to enjoy the exquisite fragrance in your home
Image: T&M

Chimonanthus praecox, or wintersweet, is an elegant, fragrant winter flowering shrub. Grow it in borders, or against a house wall, where you can enjoy its exquisite perfume every time you step into the garden. It bursts into life in the dead of winter, its bare woody stems dripping with pendulous, sulphur-yellow blooms. On the darkest of winter days, Chimonanthus flowers can be seen in full bloom while most other plants lie dormant.

Witch hazel

Witch Hazel from T&M

Enjoy vibrant bursts of yellow through January and February
Image: T&M

There’s nothing like a splash of bright yellow to cheer up a wintry day and Hamamelis x intermedia ‘Arnold Promise’ – the recipient of a well-deserved RHS Award of Garden Merit – delivers. The little flowers burst open on the craggy stems, offering up a sweet scent, as well as vibrant colour. Position it somewhere in full sun or semi-shade, and get it in place in time for autumn so you can enjoy the show as its leaves turn brilliant orange and red before January arrives and the bare stems explode into bloom.

Daphne

Winter-flowering daphne shrub

The winter-flowering daphne is scented, compact and evergreen
Image: T&M

Another RHS Award of Garden Merit winner, Daphne odora ‘Aureomarginata’ is an evergreen shrub that adds structure to the garden all year long. But it really comes into its own in late winter, thanks to the blooming of its highly-scented pink flowers. Daphne plants appreciate a little acclimatisation to the outdoors before taking up their final positions; a process that’s made easier by the fact that this plant is perfect for patio containers.

Coronilla

Yellow Coronilla plant

Coronilla can be grown as a shrub or trained up a wall as a striking feature
Image: Alamy

There’s nothing dull about a December day if you have Coronilla valentina subsp. glauca ‘Citrina’ in your garden. Its lemon-yellow flowers can appear throughout the year, but it reaches its peak in the winter months with blooms from December to April. With a bit of shelter and sun, this compact evergreen with small blue-green foliage does well even in harsh coastal conditions. For added winter drama, why not train it as a wall shrub for a bit of vertical interest?

Gardens don’t have to be dull in the dark, winter months. With these flowers and plants – and more to inspire you on our winter flowers hub – you really can have all year round colour and interest. Get planning and planting now, and you’ll reap the rewards in the changing seasons to come. What are your favourite winter plants? Let us know over on our Facebook page.

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