Petchoa

* Common name: Petchoa

* Botanical name: xPetchoa

* What it is: A petchoa is an all-new type of annual flower that’s created by crossing a petunia with a calibrachoa.

   Petunias are trailing plants with many-colored tubular flowers that have been popular for generations. Calibrachoa is a similar flower (like petunia, native to Brazil) that didn’t catch on with gardeners until the 1990s because they were considered harder to grow.

   The cross between the two resulted in the best of both parents – petchoas with vivid colors, better heat and rain tolerance than petunias, no “sticky stems” that trap browned petals, improved disease resistance, heavy bloom, and no need to pinch or dead-head.

   Petchoas look like petunias but with slightly shorter flowers and more ruffled edges. They come in a wide variety of colors and in several brands, including SuperCal, EnViva, Caliburst, and Danziger’s original Calitunia line that debuted about a dozen years ago.

   The flowers are attractive to butterflies and hummingbirds, but unfortunately, rabbits also sometimes like to much on the stems and flowers. (Growing petchoas in a hanging basket helps on that front.)

* Size: 10 to 14 inches tall with a trailing habit of 18 to 24 inches wide.

* Where to use: Petchoas are at their best in hanging baskets and pots, but they also do better in the ground than at least some varieties of root-rot-prone calibrachoas that are planted in poorly drained clay soil. Full sun is best, but petchoas bloom well in light shade.

* Care: Plant in compost-rich, well-drained soil, and water often enough to keep the soil consistently damp. Petchoas don’t like to dry out and may wilt or shut down bloom in a hot, dry spell without supplemental water.

   Fertilize monthly with a flower fertilizer or add time-release pellets (i.e. Osmocote) at planting.

   In pots and baskets, use a light-weight, quality potting mix and check for water daily. Fertilize half-strength every other watering.

   No need to deadhead; plants are self-cleaning. Yank after frost kills the plants in fall.

* Great partner: Petchoas are vigorous enough growers to fill a pot or basket alone… no partner needed. Otherwise, a dark-leaf cordyline, a dusty miller, or a burgundy-leafed fountain grass would make a good upright centerpiece with petchoas trailing around it.