I have some potted up and in the ground, they like LOTS of water.

I second the lots of water.

Also, some people say to snip back the ends after they bloom, but I just pulled off the old flowers on my white petunias last year. They were in pots and kept growing longer, but looked pretty draped over the sides of the pot. My mom plants hers in the ground and they grow so much, they end up in the lawn LOL.

The white and purple ones are easy to grow and both have a nice fragrance. The white ones attract hummingbird moths too:)

I plant petunias every year as a filler in my flower beds. I never water unless it's been a month without rain. I do have a sandy clay soil too. They love the sunshine and as long as they are in-ground they bloom from planting to frost. I don't deadhead them either. In a pot....dead in a week.

MeMo

I've done everything you all mentioned, lots of water, full sun, some deadheading, and they still turn brown and die by August.

I wanted the very light purple ones, almost blue, those are the one's I see growing prolifically in people's gardens. They didn't have them but had the dark purple. I bought the light pink with white centers.

Wish me luck!

I think I've figured out my problem thanks to some suggestions on another board.

Those who grew good Petunias fertlized them often. I never did.

What fertilizer, other than Miracle Grow that hooks up to the hose, do you recommend?

I can never figure out the Miracle Grow bottle and the hose. lol

I've grown petunias in the fall - spring. They don't like our summers.

I use a time-release fertilizer for flowers ... which means it has a larger percentage of phosphorous than nitrogen and potassium. That helps in setting flower buds.

Here is a link that might be useful: Bloom Booster

You need to get started with some old heirloom petunias. I never have to plant them anymore, they self-seed prolifically everywhere I put them. I never fertilize and only water if we are extremely dry. The come in shades of dark purple to white. I bought my original packet of seeds from Select Seeds, I think they were called Balcony. Here is a picture of mine from last summer. They bloomed until frost killed them back.{{gwi:653868}}

I think I gave away all my extra seeds that I saved this year.

glenda

i grow petunias every year. they do like water and fertilizer. just dead head as spent blooms accumulate. about midsummer when they get scraggly looking cut them back & continue to water and fertilize. they will reward you by reblooming nicely

It's funny that there's so many people that have difficulty in growing petunias... I grow them every year, or at least I did and they always thrived with very little care, in part shade (they got sun till around noon) I only watered when I first planted them. Other than that the only care they got was dead-heading the spent flowers. They grew strong and produced lots of flowers.

ttfn
Cheryl.

gld, your's looks like the Petunias I see in flowerbeds around town. Nice and bushy. Beautiful!

I've been very disappointed in the two local places I buy bedding plants this year. The label simply tells me what plant it is, but not the species.

I've had more success with petunias in partial sun, as they do like a lot of water. In full sun, I like calibrochea (spelling?) also called million (thousand?) bells. They look like smaller petunias but they are unscented. I love petunia scent!

Gldno- Those petunias are so beautiful...and purple! I'm going to order some of those seeds :)