Petunias are such great flowers for landscaping! Brimming with brilliant colors and a delicate smell, petunia flowers are great for adding a splash of color to your gardens. Landscaping with petunias is as easy as it gets, as long as you plant them in a sunny spot and give them water and well-fertilized soil.
Petunias spread quickly, and the show of color they present is breathtaking. They come in so many colors! From pink to red, white, blue, and purple; some are pink with a white border, and others are dark purple with spots. And, of course, the candy-striped petunias and even yellow ones.
Here are a few ideas to help you incorporate petunias into your yard’s landscape.
1. Grow Petunias in Containers
One of the easiest ways to add color to your landscape is to create gorgeous containers filled with a mix of cascading petunia flowers. You can mix contrasting colors or add a selection of similar shades depending on the effect you’re looking for.
2. Petunia Hanging Baskets
What an amazing show of beauty! These red and white petunias will make your day, every day! Adding petunias to hanging baskets will give you a show of color throughout the summer.
Pair your petunias with geraniums, periwinkle, lobelia, and bright yellow African daisies for a dramatic look.
Place these potted petunias in places you’ll enjoy them daily: by your front door, back porch, or even your mailbox 😉
3. Fill a Window Box
Have you ever seen those gorgeous explosions of color in window boxes? You can plant the same color, like the ones above, or plant a variety of contrasting colors, like red and white, or pink and purple. A real show-stopper!
See what other flowers look great in window boxes.
4. Include Them in Your Moon Garden
Are you familiar with night gardens? I remember visiting my grandparents in my early years and being greeted by these tiny white flowers that smelled amazing! They were Nicotiana, also known as tobacco plants.
Many petunias have this same property: their smell accentuates in the evening. You can create a night garden by your window or door and enjoy the incredible fragrance in the evening. One of the most fragrant petunias is the Thumbelina: they create double blooms in many colors.
5. Create a Border
Create a garden edge to your backyard filled with petunias. They’ll keep blooming without much intervention from you: a very low-maintenance landscaping idea for busy people who love a well-maintained landscape without too much work.
Of course, it helps if you take an hour or so every week to deadhead: this will boost production and pay dividends for you.
6. Plant a Flower Bed
Tuck a few petunia plants between the perennials already in your flower beds. They’ll add a pop of color and bloom profusely throughout summer.
The exciting flower bed above is made from large rocks and planted with layers of colorful flowers, including marigolds and petunias.
7. Create a Front Yard Centerpiece
I love this splash of hot pink and violet petunias on the front yard landscape. Makes for a very inviting front lawn.
8. Wooden Cart Filled With Colorful Petunias
What a nice way to add a show of color to your yard! This cart is filled with lots of colorful petunias, marigolds, cosmos, and other flowers.
9. Fill a Tree Stump With Petunias
If you have an old tree stump in your yard, you may want to use it to plant some wave petunias on top of it and let them cascade down the sides.
10. Fill An Old Baby Stroller
Get an old baby stroller from a yard sale and fill it with your favorite color of petunia flowers. This one has pink and candy stripe petunias. A yellow rose planted next to the stroller gives a nice contrast.
I hope you’ve been inspired to landscape with petunias: they are gorgeous and don’t require too much work.
11. Use The Many Petunia Color Combinations
With the endless colors in which petunias bloom, there’s no shortage of color combinations for landscaping with petunias. From mixing red, white, and blue petunias in a hanging basket to adding two-tone colored flowers and spotlighting petunia flowers that are edged by a white border, you’ll be surprised at how many color patterns you’ll find you can use in your landscape.
If you like contrast, you’ll love mixing bright red and pure white petunias: such a beautiful combination! If you’d rather stay with one color, you can try to mix flowers in the same hues.
12. Special Petunias You Must Try
Now that you’re planning to use lots of petunias in your landscape, there are a few petunia types you absolutely must try! Here are just a few:
- wave petunias (the ones in this picture are called pink passion wave petunias)
- petunia bravo
- crazytunia
- littletunia
- evening scentsation
- night skies petunias
13. What to Plant With Petunias
While petunias are great on their own, they also love companionship;)
Since petunias are low-growing, they’ll look good with taller plants as a backdrop. Plants to put behind petunias include:
- Snapdragons
- Delphiniums
- Alliums
- Lupines
- Black-eyed Susans
- Daisies
- Iris
See my list of 11 companions to plant with petunias.
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Darlene
Tuesday 11th of April 2023
So pretty but so expensive to buy so many. Haven’t had luck with starting from seeds
PHYLLIS
Friday 21st of April 2023
@Darlene, I find them very easy to grow from seed. I have 1,000 ready to set out
Marion Tinney
Sunday 26th of March 2023
Will deer or slugs eat them? That is a problem here inMassachusetts
Adriana
Sunday 26th of March 2023
Sadly, deer will eat them. As for slugs, you can sprinkle some crushed eggshell around the base of the plant and the slugs will stay away.
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