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Tuesday, April 10, 2012

Volunteer Petunias


My pride and joy
I'm a beginner gardener and had no idea what a "volunteer" plant was until a couple of years ago.  Perennials came back each year, annuals didn't, and that was that.  Until the petunias I planted as annuals came back the following year.

Apparently being lazy and leaving the dead (or dormant) petunias around, unkempt and dead-looking all winter, has its advantages.  The seeds sprouted by the old plants can stick around over the winter and become beautiful petunias in the spring.  These are called volunteers, as I understand it, because they aren't guaranteed to come back as new plants but do anyway.

Tell me these aren't the most beautiful flowers you've ever seen.


Flowers around my mailbox

I adore them.  I regularly stand and stare at them; I am totally the weirdo gardening lady. But what's not to love with these plants?  They're beautiful.  They're hardy. I deadhead them sometimes and give them some water in the scorching summers, but mostly I leave them to shine on their own. 

The original petunias I planted were white but the volunteers are pink; I'm told that flowers revert to pink in the wild.  I'd very carefully picked out white flowers for this bed; pink was not part of the plan.  After we got this house, I looked at tons of landscaping books and had grand plans of color-coordinating foliage and flowers.  I'd have a bed with cool colors, maybe another with reds and yellows, but certainly nothing clashy.  After I came to terms with my lazy gardening approach, I realized that getting abundant flowers of any color is a victory, so the potentially clashy petunias will be left alone.

I'll sign off with a few more photos from my garden this spring.  Maybe my color scheme is pink and pinker.  

Azaleas planted by the builder

Camellias.  I planted three of these last year after they'd bloomed and hadn't
known how pretty the flowers would be.  Love them!

13 comments:

  1. I am a huge fan of petunias! Very pretty :)

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  2. Very pretty. Never knew the term volunteer either. Usually what I plant does come back.

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  3. Your gardens look great. I love volunteers! Dill is another one that likes to sprout up again the next year. And it smells good.

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  4. These are lovely!! I had no idea that these were considered volunteers (learning something new every day). May your garden bloom and grow!

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  5. Gorgeous! I rent, so I'm not a gardener. But, I wish I could!

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  6. Those volunteers are SO awesome! So vibrantly pink and cheery. What a nice little surprise this spring!

    I had petunias once, but I got those big green catapillers on them. Yuck! They munched away at the blossoms. I should try again!

    I like to garden too. I don't think I have a green thumb, but I am learning and after 2 years of living in our house, things are looking better!

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    1. Bummer about the green caterpillers eating your petunias! Something eats at mine a little. I think it's slugs at night or something, but they leave enough that it's no biggie. The bane of my gardening existence around here is Japanese beetles. They're so destructive!

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  7. Volunteers? I had no idea. I also never lived anywhere where plants really died in winter, so still learning the ropes. I think those are lovely petunias, indeed.

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  8. I am new at gardening as well and how no idea what I am doing. We are sticking to as many native plants and flowers as we can, but besides that - I have no idea what to plant.
    Love your pretty mailbox flowers!

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  9. Gorgeous pics! I'm excited about our flowers and even more excited about upcoming fresh veggies! Did you plant any edible things?

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    1. Agh, haven't planted anything edible yet. I get frustrated by bugs/squirrels eating my herbs & veggies. Will have to plant at least one tomato!

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  10. By the way, I am a little confused. You have the bloggers against captcha on your blog (as do I) yet you require captcha to leave a comment. :P

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    1. Ok, that is SO weird. I know I turned it off several weeks ago!! Turned it off...again. Thanks for letting me know and tell me if it's still ask for word verification.

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