Supertunia® Petunias

What is a Supertunia®, and is it really Super? Supertunias® are a line of petunias developed by Proven Winners® for exceptional performance and – yes – they are Super! Perhaps their biggest advantage is that they are sterile and self-cleaning, thus eliminating the need for deadheading. Other attributes include an abundance of flowers all summer long, in a tremendous range of colors and forms, heat tolerance, and overall vigor.

Supertunias® are vegetatively propagated and do not set seed. Not only does this mean no more tedious deadheading, but it also means that the plants put all their energy into flower production and plant vigor rather than seed production.

Flowers range in size from petite to large, and colors range from pure white through royal purple, with every shade in between. Flower forms include single and double.  Growth habit ranges from mounding to trailing, with some of the best hanging basket selections on the market today.

Regular Supertunia petunias are vigorous with slightly mounded habits that function as both fillers and spillers in containers.  They are also excellent landscape plants, best suited to be placed near the front of beds.  They have medium to large sized flowers.

Supertunia® Vista petunias are very vigorous, with mounding/trailing habits that will drape over the edges of baskets and containers up to 3 feet by the end of the season! They are fantastic in large containers, where they function as both fillers and spillers. In garden beds, they will work either in the front or middle of the bed. They have medium-sized flowers.

Supertunia Mini Vista petunias produce abundant petite flowers on densely branched plants. They are mounded but will also spill over the edges of containers. They are a great substitute for Million Bells (Calibrachoa) due to their extreme vigor and forgiving nature.

All petunias will perform best in full sun (6+ hours) with consistent moisture. To get the very most out of your Supertunias® we recommend regular fertilizing with a specially formulated petunia food. Petunias are prone to Iron Chlorosis, which will show itself as yellow venation on the leaves. We highly recommend Jack’s Petunia FeEd, a chelated iron formulation that allows plants to utilize iron even in alkaline soils, as we have here in southeastern Wisconsin.

While Supertunias® are bred to retain an attractive form, they may still become a bit rangy late in the season. If you want to tighten up the habit or shorten the length of trailing stems, you can trim or thin them. As a rule, don’t remove more than 25% of the branches or trim back more than 1/3 of the volume of the plant. Your plant will be out of flower for a few days but will recover with increased vigor and renewed flower production.

By Zannah Crowe

Some pictures provided by Proven Winners – https://provenwinners.com/