Are you ready for a black petunia?
August 2nd, 2010
Petunia 'Black Velvet'
It’s one of those love-it or hate-it plants, but the new-for-2011 annual flower that’s generating the biggest buzz is Ball FloraPlant’s petunia ‘Black Velvet.’
As the name implies, this is a petunia that blooms black. And from the ones I’ve seen growing at trial gardens in Buffalo and at Penn State’s Lancaster County research farm, ‘Black Velvet’ really is pretty darn close to true black. It’s not really a deep burgundy plant like so many of the so-called black plants.
Don’t get too excited, though. ‘Black Velvet’ might be a novel color, but it doesn’t appear to be a very high-performing variety.
At both trials, it paled noticeably compared to the many super-blooming petunias of series such as ‘Supertunia,’ ‘Ray,’ ‘Sanguna,’ ‘Cascadia,’ ‘ Petitunia,’ and of course, the various ‘Waves.’ The ‘Black Velvets’ I saw were putting out maybe a third coverage while most other trial petunias were total balls of bloom.
Also coming out next year are two black-and-cream striped petunias named ‘Phantom’ and ‘Pinstripe.’ These are also eye-grabbers because of the unusual look, but they were only slightly better in flower power than ‘Black Velvet.’
Petunia 'Pinstripe'
Go ahead and give a few a try if you’re a sucker for anything new and different. But don’t expect ‘Wave’-like performance.
Not everyone will even like the color. At Penn State’s trials, I saw some people raving over the ‘Black Velvets’ while others turned up their noses.
Interesting upcoming gardening events
Two local events that you might want to put on your calendar…
Coming up Wed., Aug. 25, from noon to 5 p.m. is the 9th annual Master Gardener Tomato Tasting Day at the Franklin County Extension Office, 181 Franklin Farm Lane, Chambersburg.
Master Gardeners slice up three dozen trial varieties from Penn State’s test garden and let the public go down the line and sample every last one of them. You then get to rate your favorites.
The varieties are coded during the tasting, but you find out which you liked best in the end. Then the MGs tally up the totals and announce overall favorites.
Last year, for instance, people really liked ‘Brandy Boy,’ ‘Blosser Pink,’ ‘Grandma’s Garden,’ ‘Brandywine’ and ‘Black Brandywine.’
New this year is a salsa contest at 2 p.m.
It’s all free. Just show up ready to eat tomatoes and salsa.
Then on Sat., Sept. 11, the Manada Conservancy is staging its fifth annual Fall Native Plant Sale from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. at Meadowood Nursery, 24 Meadowood Drive, Hummelstown.
The event features nothing but natives — trees, shrubs, grasses, ferns, woody vines, aquatic plants and plenty of wildflower choices. Proceeds go to Manada’s land-preservation and education work.
More details and a list of what will be on sale can be found at the group’s website at www.manada.org. If you’re not familiar with Meadowood, its website is at http://www.meadowoodnursery.com.