I like to tour AAS trial gardens each summer to see what’s new in the world in the world of annuals. I was excited to see a new petunia growing at Boerner Botanical Gardens’ test plot in early August. Petunia Sophistica ‘Antique Shades’ has large flowers that are mixed with intriguing shades of pink and yellow.
They were very interesting and eye-catching, and I was ready to add them to the list of plants I’d like to try in my own garden.
That all changed when I visited the trial gardens at the West Agricultural Research Station in Madison three weeks later.Yikes! Their Sophistica ‘Antique Shades’ plants looked like they’d been attacked by marauding insects or acid rain:
We’d had some rain a few days earlier, but it was nothing that should cause flowers to react so dramatically. The plants themselves looked green and robust—wonderful for petunias still blooming in late August—but those were easily some of the ugliest flowers I’ve ever seen.
After my ‘Queen Red Lime’ Zinnia debacle this past summer, I think I’ll pass on planting anything that might scare visitors.