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Petunias are amazingly beautiful flowers, you can see them in almost every garden. Who will refuse a green cloud strewn with multi-colored “butterflies”. The variety of species and the richness of the color palette allows you to create a unique landscape design. There are bush, ampel and cascade varieties of petunias.
When determining clusters, there are practically no errors, ampelous and cascading varieties can not always be distinguished. This is especially difficult for beginners to understand. We will try to give comprehensive answers to the question of what is ampelous and cascade petunia, what are the differences. But first, let’s describe each of the types of “arguing” groups of plants.
Features of ampelous petunia
It is impossible to answer the question of how ampelous petunia differs from cascade petunia without a detailed description of the types of petunias. This is not only the appearance, but also the features of growing and caring for petunias.
Description
The ampelous petunia has its own distinctive features in appearance:
- The length of juicy green shoots can be different, from 30 to 120 cm. During growth, the shoots fall down, and do not fall apart to the sides. Thanks to this, the plant can be given the desired shape. Therefore, it is grown in hanging containers.
- The size of soft leaves with slight pubescence depends on the age of the petunia: the old ones are larger, and the young ones are smaller.
- There are many flowers on the plant, they are located along the length of the entire shoot, in the axils. The shape of the flower resembles a bell.
- There are varieties with large flowers with a diameter of up to 10 cm, there are few of them on the plant. Many-flowered species have more buds, but they are small in size (from 3 to 8 cm). On one shoot at the same time there can be flowers from 3 to 10 cm. On the same plant, the buds can be of different sizes and shades.
- The color palette is rich, from pure white inflorescences to deep purple. Most often, the petals are two-colored, the inner part of the bell is a more saturated color.
When planting plants of different colors in one pot, a surprisingly beautiful flower arrangement is obtained, as in this photo.
About the features of the formation of a bush and obtaining cuttings for propagating petunias in the video:
How to grow an ampelous petunia
Annual ampelous petunias are grown as annual plants by sowing seeds for seedlings in late March, early April. Seedlings must dive. It is necessary to plant in a permanent place after the establishment of warm weather in late May, early June, depending on the climatic characteristics of the region.
For cultivation, you can use hanging pots, boxes.
But a separate place in the garden can be taken away, then the surface will be covered with a carpet of multi-colored buds.
The plant is demanding on watering and top dressing, especially during the period of bud formation and flowering. But it cannot stand stagnant water in containers: the root system may die, succulent shoots at the base also rot.
Ampel varieties are wonderful plants that can decorate terraces, balconies, pillars. Dissolves the first buds at the end of June and pleases with its multicolor until the first frost.
petunia cascade
Cascading petunia is a subspecies of ampelous. Although it has its own characteristics.
Description
- Cascading petunias stand out with elastic “well-fed” shoots that can be up to 1,5 meters long. Do not break even in the wind. The green mass grows due to axillary shoots. Initially, they rise up, and when they reach a certain length, they hang.
- The plant resembles a ball with long hanging lashes, if planted in a hanging planter.
- The buds are large, up to 5 cm, on the plant all the flowers are of the same size.
How to grow cascading varieties of petunias, watch the video:
Features of landing
Since the shoots of the cascading petunia tend to grow rapidly, it can be planted in different ways:
- When grown on the ground, she needs to allocate a separate flower bed, the plants scatter the lashes, forming a flowering clearing with a diameter of up to two meters.
- Supports in the form of pillars, fences are also suitable, you just need to direct the whips in the right direction. Then the support will be entwined on all sides. When planting, you must maintain a distance of at least 40 cm, otherwise the plants will jam each other.
- If tubs or braids are used for growing plants, then they must be large in volume, at least 5 liters. If you plan to plant 2-3 plants, you will need a capacity of up to 15 liters. Look at the photo, how amazing the flowers look in a wicker basket.
- You can grow petunia on the balcony, loggia, terrace.
The main thing is to observe the technology of growing and caring for the plant.
How to determine which petunia is in front of you
So, we examined each type of petunias separately, it remains now to figure out what is the difference.
The table contains the main indicators that will help to understand this issue.
Description | Ampelnaya | cascading |
|---|---|---|
Shoots | Up to 120 cm | Up to 150 cm, grow strongly, can twist around a support. |
Features of growth | Grow immediately down, do not scatter around. | First up, then down and to the sides. |
Color and size of buds | Flowers large up to 10 cm in diameter. The color variety is extensive. One plant can have different sizes and colors. Often two-tone. | The flowers are large, the sizes on the plant are the same. A diverse palette of shades, but one shade. |
Peculiarities of growing | From seeds and cuttings | From seeds and cuttings. |
Ground | Fertile. | Fertile. |
Watering and top dressing | Demanding for watering, top dressing. | Demanding for watering, top dressing |
Do I need to pinch | No. | Yes, due to this petunia grows faster |
Where to land | Hanging planters, spheres, tubs, wickerwork. | Hanging pots, spheres, tubs, braids, in the garden, as a groundcover. |
Flowering | Continuous until frost. | Continuous until frost. |
If you carefully consider the table, then ampelous and cascading petunias have a lot in common. This is not surprising, since plants are close relatives. Now let’s find out by what signs they can be distinguished:
- Shoots have different lengths, grow unequally. You can pinch them only in the cascade variety.
- In a plant with ampels, the shoots are not so juicy, flexible, hence the different strength.
- Cascading petunia can be used as a groundcover or for decorating supports, hedges due to its ability to curl. While ampelous ones look better in hanging compositions.
- Differences are also observed in the size of the buds. In the cascade variety, they are all the same size on the plant. On the ampelous, there can be both large and small flowers at the same time. This difference also applies to colors. Ampelous varieties can be multi-colored, while cascading ones are monochromatic.
What is more beautiful
We found out how the ampelous view differs from the cascade. But which plants to prefer for growing in the garden, each gardener decides individually. Look at the photo below, how our beautiful petunia decorates houses and yards.
Varietal diversity allows you to create a unique design from petunias: both in hanging planters and on the ground. Some experienced gardeners combine two varieties of petunias or alternate them, coming up with different flower arrangements. The main thing is to follow the rules for growing and caring for petunias.