Gardeners who’ve had their ear to the ground this season may be wondering what all the hoopla is about in the petunia world. Well, truth be told, it is a new Supertunia for 2024 called Hoopla Vivid Orchid.
If you think about it, "hoopla" means bustling excitement, commotion and ballyhoo, which is just the sensory overload you have when you first see this new addition to the Supertunia lineup.
When I received some plants for the trial, I immediately had some of them pegged for one of the premier window boxes in town. To be more succinct, I had them going out of state to the "Sweet Home Alabama" garden of our favorite real estate guru, Kim Mixon, in Phenix City, Alabama, 10 miles west.
Son James and his partner, Anthony Arrington of Eden Landscape Management, design and plant the garden each year, and it has become a regular drive-by for The Garden Guy. The window box is like the centerpiece of the most floriferous garden in the Columbus, Georgia, metropolitan area. You might think this production was for business purposes, but it is strictly because Kim is a flower lover of epic proportions.
The window box became like a testing site for me. It has all that is new and wonderful, and I will just skirt around the varieties now because I want to feature some of the new plants in later columns. For now: Supertunia Vivid Orchid is intertwined with the cheerful yellow Supertunia Mini Vista Yellow petunias that are still new to most of you and winner of over a dozen awards in 2022. Nearby in the box is Primo Wild Rose heuchera and Unplugged So Blue salvias.
Supertunia Hoopla Vivid Orchid reaches about 12 inches tall with a potential spread of around 2 feet. Proven Winners call it a purple petunia with a picotee margin. When you look closely, you wonder how in the world this occurs. Each flower is uniform with the look of being hand-detailed from an artist but perhaps with the absolute precision of AI. But of course, it is just the genius of the breeders.
I also shared a couple with my neighbors Dave and Cynthia, who chose to partner them with Solenia Yellow begonias, Supertunia Mini Vista Yellow petunias and the Augusta Lavender heliotrope sporting new lavender/blue flowers. The combo was stunning and Supertunia Hoopla Vivid Orchid absolutely dazzles when planted with complementary yellow.
Such was the case at the Young’s Plant Farm when we visited for the 2023 Garden Tour. Here they had the Supertunias planted in raised boxed beds and grown in mass. On one side of Hoopla Vivid Orchid they had the new yellow Supertunia Saffron Finch, and on the other side the new vibrant coral/orange Supertunia Bermuda Beach. All three looked in peak performance and were gently tumbling off the rim of the box.
Each of the plantings I have described were either in potting soil or fertile organic rich beds and all had very good sunlight. If you are planting in a bed, plan on using a spacing of 12 to 24 inches. The Garden Guy fertilizes his containers every two weeks with water-soluble fertilizer. Those annuals grown in the ground received controlled release granules at planting and every four to six weeks during the growing season. Follow your label recommendation whenever applying fertilizer.
Next year is looking like a banner year for gardeners with all the new plant introductions, and I assure you: Supertunia Vivid Orchid petunia needs to be at the top of your list.
____
(Norman Winter, horticulturist, garden speaker and author of “Tough-as-Nails Flowers for the South” and “Captivating Combinations: Color and Style in the Garden.” Follow him on Facebook @NormanWinterTheGardenGuy.)
(NOTE TO EDITORS: Norman Winter receives complimentary plants to review from the companies he covers.)
