Recently, vertical gardening of garden plots has become very popular everywhere. Much is given by the fact that petunias can be successfully grown in vertical flower beds, which it is not a sin to make yourself with your own hands from scrap materials. If you have enough imagination and patience, try experimenting with plastic or what is much more environmentally friendly with wooden boxes, plastic pipes, pallets, tires, flowerpots and other unusual, but quite suitable for the role of a charming flower bed objects. However, you can beautifully arrange a flower garden of petunias without resorting to vertical planting. Pay attention to our article and find for yourself new ideas for decorating your summer cottage flower garden.
Popular varieties of petunias for flower beds
Petunias are usually subdivided into several groups of varieties:
- Bush (Fantasy, Dream, Ultra, Titan, Polaris, Storm, Hit Parade);
- Floribunda (Sonya Orchid, Daddy Orchid, Celebrity);
Daddy Orchid - Cascading (Silver, Cherry, Rose, Ramblin, Typhoon or Tornado);
Typhoon - Ampelnye (Surfinia, Lilac surf, Waterfall, Pearl surf, Wave of luck);
Surfinia - Calibrachoa.
Choose varieties and varieties of petunias depending on the size of the flower bed itself and what color scheme you want to create.
Video: varieties and the best varieties of petunias
Plant compatibility with other flowers
In principle, to create a beautiful flower bed, it is enough to use only one petunia. If you want to dilute the uniformity of the color, you can add vibrant colors using a combination of several varieties of different colors. But if you want more variety, you can use other flowers, especially since petunia is very "friendly".
For example, you can use a combination of petunia with begonia, levkoy or any plants that have beautiful decorative leaves. Petunia goes well with marigolds (an excellent effect can be achieved by planting bright orange / yellow large marigolds around the petunia). With the onset of summer, you can add pansies to the flower bed with petunias, which will make up a wonderful composition.
Petunia looks great in mono plant
Since petunia feels great both in the sun and in partial shade, you can add a zest to your garden by planting a petunia in its shady part next to cereals or Virginia tradescantia.
Advantages and disadvantages of vertical flower beds
Naturally, vertical flower beds have quite significant advantages:
- very beautiful and great for garden decoration;
- save space, as they do not take up much space;
- mobile - can be moved throughout the site.
But there are also certain disadvantages:
- flowers will grow in rather unusual conditions with a lack of soil, therefore, the following drawback appears from here;
- regular watering and feeding are required;
- the soil can freeze badly at low temperatures.
However, vertical flower beds are an excellent design solution for decorating your garden and area around your home.
Features of petunia
Few people know that petunia belongs to the category of nightshade plants, and potatoes also belong to them. Long time petunia grew like a wild plant and had no decorative effect, and only in the 19th century it was noticed by breeders who made hybrid decorative varieties on its basis.
There are more and more of them every year, gardeners love both old and new types of petunias. The most popular for growing in gardens are ampel varieties of petunias. In the photo you can see how they look, their description is as follows:
- long shoots, lowered to the ground;
- on the shoots there are flowers with a diameter of about 5 cm;
- predominantly petunias have simple flowers in the form of a funnel, but there are also double varieties with corrugated or wavy edges of the petals;
- flowers in some varieties resemble stars.
The variety of colors of petunias is striking. So, their flowers are:
- white;
- red;
- purple;
- cream;
- coral.
Due to the presence of a huge number of varieties, many hobbyists often use them to decorate the garden. For example, arrange beautiful flower beds based on them... In the photo you can see examples of creating such compositions.
How to make a vertical flower bed for petunias: step by step instructions
In fact, any vertical flower garden is done in a similar way:
- The base and frame are created. If necessary, an irrigation system is created (for example, you can place drip irrigation inside the structure).
- The soil is filled up.
- Seedlings of flowers are planted. You can also plant marigold, verbena, Snapdragon and many other flowers.
For example, to create a vertical flower bed from a grid with your own hands, you will definitely need:
- flower pot;
- rigid mesh netting (metal or plastic);
- screeds;
- film (agrofibre or geotextile);
- priming;
- seedlings of petunias.
Step-by-step instructions for creating a vertical flower bed for petunias:
- It is necessary to make a metal frame from a mesh, and its diameter should correspond to the pot. It is imperative to press the cylinder with ties around the entire perimeter of the connection.
- Further, from the inside, it is recommended to wrap the frame with a dark film.
- At the next stage, it is necessary to fill up the soil into the resulting tower, water it slightly and wait for shrinkage, and then fill it up.
- Sprinkle soil on the sides of the pot to give the tower more stability.
- Then you should make side cuts for flowers with a sharp knife crosswise.
- And then plant petunia seedlings in these incisions.
Actually, here is a step-by-step instruction for creating a flower tower with a photo:
Video: how to make a vertical flower bed and plant petunias in it
Petunia: a luxurious decoration for any garden
Despite the fact that petunia is native to the Southern Hemisphere, it has taken root well in the rather harsh Russian climate. At home, petunia is a perennial plant, but in the Northern Hemisphere it is grown as an annual.
Reproduction of petunias is carried out by seeds, but sometimes by seedlings. When growing with the latter method, planting flowers on a flower bed can be carried out already at the end of spring (approximately in May).
Petunia Knight Sky
The plant is so popular among landscape designers that breeders around the world are growing more and more varieties, as well as hybrids of petunias. And this is not surprising, because the plant sometimes looks so impressive that the container in which it is located practically does not matter.
Advice. If you are planning to plant a plant in a flower bed, you should not plant a flower in a flower bed with seeds, since petunia requires special care and with the slightest non-observance of agricultural techniques for growing its flowering, you can wait for a very long time.
By the way, hybrid petunia differs from the usual more developed root system and feels quite comfortable even in small containers.Also, in hybrids, brighter and denser blooms are most often observed.
Different ideas for vertical flower beds for petunias
There is a fairly large number of various materials, from which any summer resident is quite capable of making vertical flower beds for petunias.
Depending on the design and the method of its attachment, the following types of such flower beds can be distinguished:
- ground (placed directly on the ground);
- elevated (installed next to the wall of the house or fence);
- wall (hung on a wall or fence);
- suspended (suspended).
Naturally, the shape and general appearance of a flower bed can be radically different, because all growers have different ideas for decorating a vertical flower garden.
Important! Whatever container or material you choose to create a vertical flower garden, do not forget to make drainage holes in it.
In a wooden box
A wooden box with a cascade of petunias on a personal plot will look quite organic. However, it is imperative to treat it with a special solution that protects the tree from rot.
Initially, a wooden flowerbed structure looks like this:
Pot pyramid
Such a delightful pyramid of pots will help to cheer you up remarkably. More detailed instructions with a photo for creating a pyramidal vertical flower garden in pictures:
From bags
It is unlikely that such a vertical flower garden can survive heavy rain or even more downpour, but it's worth a try.
By the way! In bags you can grow potatoes.
From plastic pipes
Someone might think that the plumber's wife lives here (in such a garden), but is that bad?
Such a long, colorfully elegant flower bed can be attached to the fence.
Or install directly on the wall of the house.
In such a bed-flower bed, you can plant and seedlings of strawberries.
From pallets
Plant the petunia seedlings in wooden trays (near the edge) and simply stack them on top of each other.
From flowerpots
Take several different-sized flowerpots and place them on top of each other in descending order so that the structure is as stable as possible.
From tires
Good old tires, what kind of flower beds you can't make of them!
By the way! If you want to make flower beds from old rubber tires with your own hands, then read this article.
Care
It is much easier to care for a petunia planted in a flower bed than for a flower growing on a balcony. You just need to follow a few simple rules.
- Seedlings should be planted at a certain distance from each other. Depending on the variety of petunias, the distance can be from 15 to 30 centimeters.
- It is better to place petunia in a flower bed along its edges, since it is a stunted plant.
- Petunia must be constantly fed, weeded, watered and loosened. On hot summer days, the flower bed should be watered at least once a day, preferably in the morning or evening. It is not recommended to water at noon, as the sun's rays can burn the petunia, because at this time they are very aggressive.
Important! At noon, you can water the petunia only on condition that the flowerbed at this time will be shaded.
If, during watering, direct sunlight falls on the flower bed, then burns may appear on it.
During flowering, petunia needs to be intensively fed with fertilizers.... Organic and mineral fertilizers are suitable. Ash, mullein and others are used as organic matter. During planting and at the seedling stage, that is, when the plant grows greenery, preference is given to nitrogenous fertilizers, and during flowering - potassium and phosphorus.
It is considered to be an annual petunia, but this is not entirely true. Read about how to save petunia for the next year, as well as about diseases and pests that lie in wait for this beautiful flower.
It is not difficult to make a vertical flower bed, it is enough to turn on imagination and show obstinacy. No special skills are required, and everyone will like the result, because it is always nice to relax around a beautiful and pleasantly smelling flower arrangement.
Photo gallery of beautiful ideas for decorating flower beds for petunias
An extraordinary solution would be to make a frame from an old rusty iron staircase, put wooden floors and put pots of petunias on them. So much for homemade vertical gardening!
You are free to make vertical a cascading flower bed of pots on a metal frame.
If you have an unused one in your yard old bath, then paint it in cheerful bright shades and make a wonderful huge flower bed out of it.
In your garden it was idle old barrel... Can't you make a flower garden out of it and plant petunias there?
Lay the barrel on its side and plant flowers in such a way as if they spilled out from there or poured out in a powerful stream! If there is no wooden barrel, then take an iron or regular bucket, just decorate it.
Will not harm nature, while giving a lot of pleasure to everyone around, if old stumps with the help of flowers you will turn into colorful mushrooms.
It is the best to break a flower garden in hollow of an old tree.
Making an extravagant bicycle flower garden is difficult, but possible.
And here's an idea for a simpler petunia bike bed.
Decorating a plot with petunia: 50 best garden design ideas
Delightful delicate creatures - petunias! As if the goddess Flora herself turned the drops of morning dew into these flowers of extraordinary beauty. The use of petunia in the landscape design of your site will certainly be successful, given some of the nuances. And the proposed 50 ideas will certainly inspire!
Landscape designers and gardeners are very fond of petunia for its juicy colorful flowers, unpretentiousness and long flowering period. You can decorate almost anything with these plants:
- flower beds,
- gazebos,
- arches,
- terraces,
- balconies and loggias.
And what original and vivid compositions are created using petunias alone!
Petunia in flower arrangement
Petunia arches
In landscape design, not all varieties of petunias are used for landscaping parks and large garden plots. In total, there are three groups of varietal series, differing in the size of the inflorescences:
- Multiflora and floribunda – multicolored varieties of petunias with flowers 6–7 cm. This group of plants withstands natural disasters and quickly recovers after prolonged rains for 2–3 days. Varieties of this group are planted on flower beds, borders and mixborders.
Petunia floribunda
Petunia floribunda
- Milliflora is a group of petunias with miniature flowers about 4 cm in diameter. Babies just as bravely tolerate wet precipitation, as well as representatives of the first group, and are also used for plantings in open ground.
Petunia milliflora
- Grandiflora - has giant inflorescences, reaching 10-15 cm! These varieties are very hard on rain, which damages their large, delicate petals. Petunias of this group look great in hanging pots or flower containers, only you need to monitor the weather and transfer them in time to a place protected from rain and wind, for example, on a closed terrace or veranda.
Petunia grandiflora
The so-called cascading and ampelous varieties of petunias are planted in flower pots and flowerpots, which, thanks to their long stems, fall down in an airy flower cloud.
Bush petunias get along well with other plants and therefore they are often planted in mixborders, in flower beds and borders.
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Petunia in a mixborder
Petunia is unusually good on narrow ridges and curbs along the paths.
Vases or flower pots with this amazing plant can be placed at the entrance to the house or placed in the center of the flower bed. City streets, parks and squares are also supportive of these bright little colors.
Hanging pots with petunias will decorate any building facade, pergolas or walls of gazebos and terraces.
Recently, it has become fashionable to erect vertical flower beds, which include flower towers. Petunias multiflora and floribundas are perfect for these purposes.
And one cannot fail to mention the decoration of various objects with petunias, sometimes the most unexpected ones. Plates, beds, pipes, bicycles, basins, barrels, jugs and cars. There are no restrictions at all, rely only on your imagination!
How do you like this idea!
As you can see, the use of petunia is so extensive that all that remains is to choose the appropriate method and create your own flower arrangement. Agree that this is not an easy task!
Prevention of diseases and pests of petunia
Subject to the rules of agricultural technology, petunias develop strong immunity to diseases. Irregular watering, poor lighting, thickened plantings can reduce it.
Diseases such as galls, tobacco mosaic and necrosis, potato and tomato viruses cannot be treated. Affected plants should be destroyed immediately. To prevent these ailments, petunia needs to be regularly treated for aphids - the main carrier of viruses.
Powdery mildew of petunia
In case of infection with fungal diseases: powdery mildew, rot, spotting, black leg - petunias are treated with a solution of copper sulfate. Biological products are also effective against fungi - Fitosporin, Gaupsin, Fitolavin.
Of the pests for petunias are dangerous: aphids, thrips, whitefly, spider mites. Spraying with insecticides - Aktara, Konfidor, Aktellik will help to cope with them.
