As I mentioned last week, I recently pulled all the petunias out of my pots and planters except for two cultivars. My second pardon went to ‘African Sunset’. This is the craziest petunia I have ever grown. Once again, I must point out that the flowers are NOT ORANGE like is promised in every catalog description, but these are tough plants. All summer long I kept forgetting to water them, yet they persevered.
Each year in early September, I give up watering, weeding and deadheading all my annuals and let them fend for themselves until frost. The plants in the flowerbeds usually survive just fine, especially if there’s regular rain, but the plants in pots and barrels usually struggle.
My ‘African Sunset’ petunias sit in a barrel under a roof overhang and get very little natural water. I have blatantly ignored them for over 7 weeks now, yet they continue to thrive. It’s wacky.
I must admit that I was a little disappointed that there’s still no such thing as an “orange” petunia, but I quickly got over it. This cultivar’s flowers are a lovely shade of salmon, and the darn plants just bloom and bloom and bloom. Plus they seem to thrive on neglect. How can you not love them?
Get this. I have never deadheaded my ‘African Sunset’ petunias and they probably were watered 5 or 6 times over the entire summer, yet they have been blooming steadily for TWENTY-TWO WEEKS now. That’s just unreal. I can name annuals that will bloom from spring until frost, but most of them need deadheading and regular watering to flourish.
‘African Sunset’ is one of the best plant-it-and-forget-it plants I’ve ever encountered. Just stick it in the soil and forget about it.
I can’t wait to grow this tough, carefree and independent plant again next summer.