Sunday, May 15, 2016

A Review of the Wonderful Wave Petunia

I do not recall a single time that I've ever purchased petunias for myself or have attempted to raise them.  I've just never been that attracted to them. It's not that I disliked them, rather, there are too many other flowers and plants that I like better. Recently, I made an impulse purchase, choosing these petunias without much thought. And WOW, I'm glad I did.  I am already planning where I will plant many more Wave petunias.

My Impulsive Petunia Purchase 


This year, I wanted to find a small plant for a splash of color on my balcony - with the sole intention of trying to attract hummingbirds more quickly.  The plants from the seeds I had sown, were coming along, but nothing was blooming. I had placed my hummingbird feeder out with no known visitors. Because I was feeling so impatient to attract the hummingbirds, I decided to purchase a small, inexpensive, and colorful plant in hopes of catching the eye of the returning hummers.

There were some blooming flowers at the local home and garden store, but not many of my favorites. As I passed the buckets full of petunias, I just grabbed a pink plant and a very dark red plant.  I took them home and literally just plopped them into a single, long planter.

24" long planter with drainage tray

The Wave Petunias are Doing Great!


The other day, I decided to take some photographs of these vigorous flowers.  Our weather has had some very cold snaps and dreary days.  I have been a neglectful plant owner. Some of my plants have been drier than I'd like them to be due to my forgetfulness and busy schedule. Even so, these petunias are blooming continuously and growing like weeds.

The pink plant is slightly more vigorous than the deep red plant.  But both are doing great.

pink petunia


Unexpected Petunia Bonus


As I am reading articles about petunias - since I am a complete petunia newbie - I am thrilled to find that petunias seem to be fairly easy to propagate. Some folks claim that petunias can be over-wintered in cold climates and/or moved indoors and propagated.  

I can propagate plants, but only the plants that are the most willing.  So I'm thrilled to read that these are willing participants. 

The view of petunias from my comfy cushion

My Only Complaint


My only and very small complaint about these flowers is only about the packaging. I found that it wasn't very easy for me to find the type and color of petunias - on the tag or the planter. Only after I took photographs of the tags, did I realize that I have the "easy wave" petunias.  And I'm still not seeing what colors I have.

The tags are larger than many, and that's a plus. But I think the type and color should be printed more clearly and/or on the back side of the tag. On the front of the tag, the brand name "Wave" and the variety name of "easy wave" were hard for me to sort out at first.

I believe I have the Easy Wave Pink Passion and the Easy Wave Red Velour. I determined that by looking at the varieties listed on the Wave website.

red petunia


That is an exceedingly small complaint. And does not impact how I feel about these vigorous, beautiful, and FAST growing plants.  Wave Petunias are perfect plants for container garden on a sunny balcony.