Supertunias

I've seen pictures of this pink color mixture of Supertunias on the web for a couple of years now.  I always do pink on the east side of the house, and nowhere else, so I go to great lengths to coordinate my pinks, especially the petunias and geraniums.  In years past I have, on impulse, purchased and planted something outside of my color palette (like orangey red) and it has always stuck out like a sore thumb.  Made worse by the fact that I am walking past it several times a day because it is right by the door!

When I first visited the mega-greenhouse in our area, I saw that they had this combination potted up in two sizes.  Big and Bigger.  And of course they looked wonderful.  But even if I paid the $$ for the potted up version, how would I get the potted plant home (won't fit in the trunk of my car for sure) and once home, how would I get that big root ball out of the pot and into my whiskey barrel without breaking the tender petunias?  Not worth the hassle.  So for the same price, I could by twice as many plants and pot them however I wanted.  Yes, I groped the potted plants and counted, by feel, the number of plants in each size pot.

Supertunias Vista Fuschia

The tag stated that this combination is Supertunia Vista Fuschia, Bubblegum and Silverberry.

How convenient.  A shopping list.

Supertunia Vista Bubblegum

The Mega-greenhouse had two colors, and Home Depot had the Silverberry.  And before I left the mega-greenhouse I was careful to take my pink petunias into the geranium house and get two pink geraniums which looked nice with these shades of pink.

Supertunia Vista Silverberry

Because not all pinks are created equal, and I assure you that in this half acre selection... there are more than a couple of pink geranium choices.  Salmon pink, lipstick pink, fuschia pink, medium pink, pale pink, pale pink with dark eyes...

The 4 main geranium houses at the mega-greenhouse

So now I have the plants I need to spruce up the driveway and doorstep.  This is my first year with Supertunias.  They are similar to the Wave varieties, but the blooms are a little smaller, and their expected overall spread is a little bigger.  Also, the blooms hold up well under rain/watering and they do not require deadheading.  They are produced from cuttings not seeds.  So the seed head thing is bred out of them.  And anyone who has spent an afternoon deadheading sticky petunias will appreciate the difference.

And this is my result:

A couple of weeks ago

Last Week

I do have other types of petunias scattered around.  Deep Red Wave along the chicken run.  Then your standard petunias in a purple palette in the barrel on the far west side.  That one doesn't have to coordinate with anything so I get to experiment with colors and varieties.