Supertunia Vista Bubblegum petunia is the latest Louisiana Super Plants for fall 2017

Petunias are one of the most popular bedding plants in America. They come in a remarkable number of flower colors, sizes and growth habits, and are an excellent choice for landscape color.

The modern petunias we grow today, in all of their amazing diversity, are derived from crossing together two species native to South America: Petunia integrifolia (small violet flowers) with Petunia axillaris (large white flowers) to create Petunia x hybrida.

In most parts of the country, petunias are considered a summer bedding plant -- planted in the spring as the weather warms and blooming through the summer. Here, however, petunias are not a great choice for summer flowerbeds.

Petunias are not at all happy when temperatures reach the 90s. They lose vigor and languish here during the mid- to late summer. Plant breeders have tried to deal with this by developing petunia cultivars that are especially vigorous and more heat tolerant. The Wave petunias were among the first of the heat-tolerant petunias, and the Supertunia petunias are another group of vigorous, heat-tolerant petunias.

But even the heat-tolerant cultivars have a hard time making it through our long, hot summers. They typically play out in July, leaving gaps in our flower gardens at a time when it's late to plant additional warm-season bedding plants and too early to plant cool-season bedding plants. For these reasons, petunias are best grown in the cool season here from October to May/early June. The planting season runs from October to the end of February.

That said, petunias are one of the more heat-tolerant cool-season bedding plants. This allows us to plant them now while temperatures are still reaching the 80s during the day. Most cool-season bedding plants should not be planted until daytime highs are reliably staying mostly in the 70s. That makes now through the fall a great time to plant petunias.

What about winter freezes? Petunias are hardy down to around 20 degrees, and that allows them to easily survive typical winters in southeast Louisiana. If temperatures in the low 20s are predicted, move petunias in containers to a protected location or indoors and throw covers over any petunias that are newly planted. If temperatures in the teens are predicted, throw covers over all petunia plantings.

Supertunia Vista Bubblegum

The Supertunia series (introduced in 2006) is comparable to the Wave series (introduced in 1995). There are several subseries within Supertunia, such as Supertunia Charm and Supertunia Mini (both have small flowers on mounding plants).

The Supertunia Vista series is more vigorous growing and spreads farther than the Supertunia series. It comes in three colors, Supertunia Vista Bubblegum, Supertunia Vista Silverberry and Supertunia Vista Fuchsia.

While all three colors perform well, Bubblegum has performed the best in landscape trials at the LSU AgCenter's Hammond Research Station. Its consistent superior performance has proven that Supertunia Vista Bubblegum is one of Louisiana's most durable petunia cultivars. And it's not just the Hammond Research Station. Supertunia Vista Bubblegum has been an excellent performer in university trials across the country, and it has been one of the most talked about petunias in the industry over the past few years.

The flower color is a bright, medium pink with darker pink veins. This color shows up beautifully in landscape plantings and combines with a wide variety of other colors. The flowers are not overly large and hold up well to rainy weather. The plants literally cover themselves with flowers when in full bloom, and the plants stay neat looking without deadheading.

Petunias bloom best in full sun but can tolerate a limited amount of shade, especially in the afternoon. Beds should be well prepared and enriched with several inches of compost worked into the upper 8 inches of the soil. Raised beds work best at providing the good drainage these plants prefer.

Supertunia Vista Bubblegum is a vigorous petunia with a 3-foot spread at maturity. It can grow about 16 to 24 inches tall. When mass-planted in the landscape bed, it is best to plant the petunias on 18-inch centers (18 inches from the middle of one plant to the middle of the next plant). This wide spacing means fewer plants are needed.

Supertunia Vista Bubblegum plants typically are sold in 6-inch pots. Carefully remove the plant from the pot and plant it with the top of the rootball level with or slightly above the soil in the bed. Apply a controlled-release fertilizer at planting, following package directions. For the best growth and flower production, fertilize these plants twice a month using water-soluble fertilizers applied with a watering can or hose-end sprayer.

After planting, apply mulch a couple of inches thick to improve the appearance of the landscape bed and help with weed control.

This petunia works equally well in containers and hanging baskets where the flowering branches and shoots will cascade over the edge. Plant alone in a container or combine these petunias with other cool-season bedding plants.

Watering plants in beds will rarely be needed during the coldest months (we get plenty of rain), but water regularly as needed once the weather begins to warm in spring. Early morning watering is best for petunias and other bedding plants.

Plants growing in containers will need more attention to watering, especially later in the season when the plants are larger, roots have filled the containers, and the weather is warmer.

The Supertunia Vista Bubblegum is one of the most reliable and outstanding cool-season bedding plants for our landscapes. Give it a try, and I think you will be impressed.

Dan Gill is a horticulturist with the LSU AgCenter.

This article originally appeared on NOLA.com and in the Times-Picayune and is published here with permission from these entities.