Can you propagate petunias

Both their colorful blooms and ease of growth have made petunias Petunia axillaris x Petunia integrifolia; USDA zones 10 through 11 one of the most popular bedding plants for many years. With non-stop blooming in a rainbow of different-color flowers, the petunia is a showy bloomer. Fortunately, propagating new plants by rooting petunia cuttings is so basic that even novice gardeners usually experience success.

Although petunias perform as tender perennials in consistently warm climates in USDA zones 10 and 11, everyone can grow this beauty as an annual. Small and slightly fuzzy light green leaves cover mounding and spreading plants that grow around a foot tall and 3 feet wide, depending on the variety. At up to 4 inches wide, grandiflora hybrids produce the largest flowers, while multiflora petunias blooms are 2 inches wide and more abundant. Cascading hybrids have a spreading habit, making them good for hanging baskets or as ground covers.

Petunias also work well as filler plants, to edge a walkway or border, in mixed flower beds, or anywhere your garden could use a splash of non-stop color. Cut off 3 to 5 inches of the stem just below a node where leaves grow.

Make a clean cut uing a pair of sharp clippers or scissors. Dip the cut on the bottom of the stem in rooting hormone to help encourage the roots to form. Shake the excess rooting hormone off of the stem. Fill the container with equal amounts of sand, perlite or vermiculite with peat moss or sphagnum moss. Water the rooting medium soil until it is slightly moist. This is the post that keeps on giving! I live in Spokane, Washington, and the beautiful petunias we enjoy all summer long surely would make the long winters more bearable.

Thank you for the explicit instructions with pictures. I hope to replicate your success. Hi Kevin. Was looking for suggestions on the best way to root petunia cuttings and found your website. Love it! However, in the spot my peonies used to be, a purple petunia popped up and bloomed most of the summer. In fact, even after freezing weather, it is still blooming. Decided to take some cuttings today, and I found 6 or so young shoots growing from several of the older stems, perfect for cuttings!

Was trying to decide, if I should use rooting hormones on the cuttings. Love your music room window. My new house has a large bay window in the living room that faces north and a large picture window that faces east.

Have visions of foliage and flowering plants in front of both windows, and your window has given me some ideas. Fantastic idea!! I love my petunias all summer, and hate that I have none all winter!!

Now I will! Meanwhile, I purchased a large Duranta which I quite enjoy also. Any ideas about why it is so unhappy indoors? Leaves curling and dropping, altho I keep it well watered and ferilized it.

It is in a sunny window. I am a teacher in Spokane and am looking for blooming petunias for a class this January. Any chance that you would be willing to share a few flowers?

Hopefully my name becomes a link that you can use to email me back. Otherwise, I will check this post. I just bought a black cat petunia for my old cat, Poe, named after the story of the black cat. He left us last night, and i wanted a flower I can keep in his memory. Your propagation plans are very clear and concise, even to a novice like me. Thanks very much for this!

Great instructions, thanks! I followed your advice for separating my ferns and it worked. Thank you very much for the good advice, keep it up! Wonderful idea Kevin will try in Feb. I have bad luck with petunias in summer but am willing to give it a shot.

Love your garden. Thanks for the great tips on Petunias, Kevin. I have a tip to share, that I heard about Geraniums. I heard that you can bring a Geranium indoors for the winter and place it in a dark room, preferably in a basement. Keep it there all winter and bring it outdoors in the spring and it is supposed to start growing and blooming again. Kevin, Thanks for running this great tip again!

When I was a teacher, I took begonias and geraniums into my classroom for the winter. One question…how soon do you start feeding the cuttings, and how often do they need to be fed?

Many thanks for all you do….. Is a south facing kitchen window too much for them? Thanks for sharing all your talents with us. I look forward to your newsletters. Have a great day! My cold brew coffee is delicious! Newspaper mulching is working! Thanks Kevin for the know how on the petunias I do that with geraniums but never with petunias all try that this winter. Hi, Kevin! What a wonderful thing to share!

Thank you so much. I just love petunias and the smell too. Another wonderful idea. These pots will make sweet smelling gifts at Christmas for my winter weary friends. I do the same for my Coleus, having kept the same ones for 3,4 and 5 consecutive summers now. Buy once and grow indefinitely through cuttings.

Embarrassed to say I have a splendidly little petunia that has been indoors all summer, dead leaves and all. Hoping this technique will work to create a more full an lush plant. Also, Kevin, do you know anything about saving my fuchsia for winter? I just got an LED grow box and I am now harvesting herbs. How quickly they grew..

How wonderful to try petunias this winter in my bright sunny window. Thanks for the terrific idea. Keep them coming! How could I propagate in order to have these flowering next summer? This is a reply for Cindi McMurray. What a great idea to take the new petunias to an assisted living center. You are absolutely amazing with All of your creative efforts. I only have a very small slot of time to enjoy websites so I ditched all of my other newsletters and only enjoy yours.

You captured my attention with your wonderful post about violets. Matter of fact I even got brave enough to order some Leaves from Ebay.

So, thank you so very much Kevin for all of your time and effort and keep up the great work. You are a gem. Wish I may, wish I might, have the wish I wish tonight. A sunroom to over winter about 40 plants. I really have to thank you so much for this idea Kevin. I did this last year at your suggestion and I ended up having a window full of glorious colourful petunia blooms in January. What a delightful contrast to see all that colour and then see the snow banks on the other side of the glass.

Then this spring I cut those plants way back and planted them up in a new summer home and they have continued to bloom and delight all summer. I was thinking this would be an excellent way to collect some great varieties of petunias and like plants. I did start another colour of wave this year from seed. Also how horrible would it be if I took a couple of small cuttings from the plantings that the town has on the boulevards?

They have some gorgeous colours of petunias sure is tempting to take a few little snips. I became a big fan of outdoor window boxes a few years ago, and tried several different flowers with generally disappointing results. Thank you for the tips! BTW your window garden is beautiful!!! Oh my God! My husband is going to kill you. I think he was hoping for a break over the winter from my endless chatter about my plants. My geraniums, impatiens, and petunias are still going strong. Also, the only nice light I have is in my studio.

Will they still bloom? Maybe I can have a bunch of them blooming in pots for my holiday sale in mid-December. I did as you told and took 15 cuttings. Pink, purple and mauve with purple striped. The pink ones are doing best. Not wet. Now another 3 show powdery mildew. The purple ones. They are sitting in a window facing west. Location: Southeast New Brunswick, Canada. What did I do wrong? I really enjoyed your tips and photos on how to take Petunia cuttings.

Hopefully our UK weather will be kind to them! Kevin, your info is fabulous! I am a very busy realtor and have a big house and yard to manage with help of course but you inspire me to enjoy it all. Your blog is the only one I follow religiously. Replace one watering per week with a solution of ratio fertilizer.

Dilute the fertilizer to one-eighth-strength to prevent damage to the petunia cutting's new roots. Check for roots in two to three weeks by very gently tugging on the plant and feeling for resistance. Check for signs of rot if it has not rooted in four weeks. Discard any failed cuttings. Acclimate the petunia cutting to normal weather conditions before planting. Remove the plastic bag for longer periods each day until it can withstand normal air flow and temperatures for six to eight hours without wilting.

Transplant the petunia into a sunny garden bed, window box or planter in two to three weeks, or once it shows obvious signs of growth. Space multiple plants 18 to 36 inches apart, depending on the cultivar.