Planting perfect petunias

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This year I'm planting petunias again. I like them here at the Tropical Paradise not only for their blooms but for their tropical foliage. And if you're wondering what a perfect baby petunia looks like, here it is (above).

This plant is no more than a couple of inches wide. Its shape is compact and the leaves are full. As it grows it will stretch out, and become more "leggy", but having a perfect petunia like this gives it a good head start to being a superstar.

If the petunias that you've planted are all leggy and splayed out, don't despair. After they've been in the ground for about a week, and look like they're established, go ahead and trim the longer shoots off. You can even trim the bottom leaves, which here get munched by slugs.

I got my petunias at the Garden Center at Lowe's. I'm an old-timer to gardening so I still tend to call these places Nurseries. And if you think of the plants there as babies, it will help you to care for them.

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