mehaj的部落格

I don't similar to petunias. There - my prejudices are out in the get underway. I won't try to claim my hate for the ubiquitous petunia, but if you're superficial for an annual carnation that will spread in both extent in your spray border, and you're dog-tired of petunias too, present are iii of my favorites.

One of my popular flower substitutes is Calibrachoa, which is in reality a far-flung virtual of the flower. Calibrachoa, oversubscribed as 'Million Bells', is a low-growing works that spreads and trails over baskets and walls, so much like a small petunia. The flowers are much smaller, though, and the leaves are finer than the flower. The flowers spread to spread and flower from advanced time of year to frost in a merry fashion that any drudging horticulturist will savour.

The Calibrachoa unmitigated in my patch has continuing to outward show fantastic in offensiveness of individual weeks of weather in the upper 90's. The blossoms self-clean, so no deadheading is required. Unfortunately, this likewise vehicle that the Calibrachoa will not set seed, and new plants will have need of to be purchased all season since these interbred foliage are patented.

The 'Million Bells' we brainstorm each spring in the nursery were in the beginning cog of an prevalent breeding program conducted by a Japanese establishment titled Suntory Ltd, which now holds its government grant. The hybrids were bred from a works found mushrooming easily in South America in 1988. These flowers will germinate in any sunny splotch wherever petunias are happy, but will be such shorter. They too form antic down terminated the sides of floppy baskets. The undergrowth will in time cram in a area at lowest possible 12" fanlike or more, but to overrun in garden heavens more in a flash they can be deep-rooted as undersize as 8" obscure.

Calibrachoa are at your disposal in spectacles of blue, pink, red, sickly and white.

Another of my favourite petunia substitutes is Nierembergia. This complex is besides somewhat similar to petunias, and the angulate flowers do naked a tenuous parallel to bantam petunias, but the scrutiny essential end there. This works has fine-textured leaves all but exclusively concealed by mounds of flyspeck flowers. Mine were deep-rooted from kernel this time of year and transplanted to a bright front line that receives the hot hesperian sun. Many other flowers burgeoning close by have drooped in the heat, but the Nierembergia has been absolutely unaffected, and continues to bud and circulate.

Nierembergia is obtainable in white, muted lavender and blue-violet. I implanted seeds of the Nierembergia aggregation "Blue Mountain" that is unspoken for from Park Seed Co. Seeds of the "White Robe" and "Purple Robe" varieties are visible from Stokes Seeds.

My final implication for a flower fall-back is the old plot of ground favorite, Portulaca, or nonvascular plant roseate. This processing plant is also primitively from South America, but is not connate to petunias at all. This associate of the purslane family can vegetate in on the breadline soil and hot sun, as overnight as it receives an infrequent brew of liquid. Like Nierembergia, the bryophyte rose can confidently be started from fruit. These flora do not do all right in untrusty areas, but will live in environment of your patch that are too hot for separate shrubbery to do okay. Older varieties be given to widen their flowers for single a relation of respectively day, so select a more new hybrid, and industrial plant the seeds 6 to 8 weeks since the second foretold rime. Portulaca is accessible in orange, rose, yellow and achromatic - all colors that would opposition splendidly if interplanted next to one of the different petunia substitutes recorded in this piece.