How do you get a petunia to come back year after year?

Question

I have a volunteer petunia that is the most beautiful deep red that I have ever seen and I would like to have it year after year. How do petunias multiply? Are they annuals or do you have to seed them every year? If so, where are the seeds at?

Answer 1

If you don't pinch off the flowers after they fade, they will produce seed pods where the flowers were.  Inside are bunches of tiny seeds.

Mine will occaisionally grow from those seeds the following year right in the hanging baskets that they grew in the year before.

I'm sure if you saved the pods after they turn brown, you'll have many seeds.  Then you can purposefully sow them early next spring (indoors, if you have winter where you live), and the transplant them to where you'd like them late in the spring.

Answer 2

I have a stone ring flower bed loaded with volunteer petunia's.  In the north, & a raised bed, I cover it over with old hay each fall.  I haven't had to buy a petunia in 7 years.

After picking off the dying flower(flower only, not stem), there will form a bud looking nubbin, in it is the seeds of that flower.  If you want to save it for a specific location, you need to watch the bud.  When it is brown & dry (before it cracks open), snip the bud off the plant before the air/ground freezes.  Then crack open the bud, spreading the seeds on a tray to dry.  After dry I put them into a small jar with which I have taken a nail to make holes in the cover for more drying.  Store in a cool, dry place until Spring.

Another pretty volunteer are snapdragons which also come in lots of colors.  I don't hay cover them, and they still come each year.  I also save the seeds from my canna's which are a tropical flower.  I always pick seeds before the night temps get down in the upper 30's.

Answer 3

Petunias are annuals and set seed after bloom.  The best way to get more petunias is to collect some of its seed and then save them for the next growing season.

You could try to "Save" the entire plant by taking it inside before winter sets.  In warmer climates you could keep it outside and watch it bloom in spring.

Answer 4

I love petunias too, I buy them every year. There are some that do come back but most of them don't. They are annuals. the seeds come in pkgs. but I just buy the flower and plant it in a large container and put them in my sun room. I looked for seeds in the flower too!