Hybrid beauties

THE petunia, a genus of 40 species of annual or perennial herbacious plants, is a popular garden plant. A native of South America, it belongs to the family Solanaceae. Most petunias are hybrids.

The leaves are oval or round, the colour pale to mild green. These versatile plants have large trumpet-shaped flowers in purple, white, pink, mauve, yellow and are sometimes striped and veined.

The compact varieties are about 20 cm in height, the tall ones grow to 45 cm. The former can be planted as a border, the latter have to be planted in beds. The brilliant blossoms with dark green foliage look like a carpet. Petunias are often grown as winter annuals, best suited for open beds, borders, rock gardens, boxes, hanging baskets and for pots. They are also good as cut- flowers.

P. hybride var, pendula grows to the height of 10 to 15 cm and is excellent for hanging baskets. P.nana var, compacta, a dwarf species, is usually raised in beds. Most petunias are hybrids derived from one of the parents - either P.grandiflora or P. multiflora. Others are the result of crosses between P.interquifolia and P.nyctaqiniflora.

Petunias are generally classified into six types: large flowered- grandiloras; compact, single or bedding plants; F1 hybrids; F2 hybrids; pendulas and all doubles.

The large flowered grandifiloras have smooth edged petals. As the name suggests the compact, single or bedded plants are most suitable for beds and borders. F1 hybrids are available in various self-coloured and bi-coloured cultivars while F2 hybrids are from grandiflora-F1 or multiflora-F1s. The pendulas are the drooping species with small, single flowers. All doubles are very popular, first developed in Japan but now available everywhere. They are again F1 hybrids with smooth-edged, ruffled and double flowers.

Among the popular doubles are "Sonata" (pure white), "Duet" (rich salmon and white), "Valentine" (orange), "Rapsody" (crimson) and single cultivars "White Cascade" (pure white), "Red Cascade" (brillant red), "Pink Cascade" (bright clear pink), "Black-Magic" (dark violet), "Sky Magic" (bright heavenly blue), "Blue Magic" (rich violet-blue), "Sun Burst" (light yellow), "Cherry Blossom" (cherry red), "Red Baron" (vivid red) and "Sugar Daddy" (deep wine red).

Petunias need very rich soil. The seeds are sown between August and to October in the plains or February and March in hilly areas. The seeds are tiny usually mixed with fine sand and sown in seed pans. Watering should be done judiciously with a fine rose-can.

Generally, the doubles are propagated by cuttings. Two-week-old seedlings are transferred to beds and are pinched when they are about 15 cm tall.

Fortnightly feeding with either liquid manure or NPK fertilizer the buds emerge gives good results. No staking is needed but, bamboo slats are inserted in the periphery of the pots.

Viral diseases can affect petunias, resulting in severely stunted growth. The leaves are usually distorted the veins may beome brown.

K. MANIBHUSHAN RAO

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